Christmas Eve Extravaganza! + Week 16 Matchups, Fantasy Grinches - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/24

Hollywood's against the Giants. Bradbury should be back. Bradbury doesn't. I guess it goes to go Hilton. Yeah. Man. Yeah, I guess it's Hilton. QT? If he's active, I would go QT. Robbie Anderson? Robbie. All right. Eric Ebron has been limited or actually didn't practice on Wednesday. I'm not sure if he returned to a limited fashion today. No, he was held out of practice on Wednesday. That's the last report I have.

Let's move on. The Bears, 7 and 7 taken on the 1 in 13 Jacksonville Trevor Lawrence's. The Bears are 7 point favorites. It's a 47 point over under. Tell me what to do with Jacksonville, if anything. Stay away. Yeah. James Robinson, I get it. He's saying he wants to play. If he's active on game day, I have no problem playing him. Really? None.

If he misses the entire week of practice with that ankle injury and he starts, you're... I don't have a problem playing him, no. Man, I have a big problem playing him. Jason, where are you? I'm the Goldilocks here. I'm in the middle. I have a problem playing him, but I do think that if he is active, he's going to get the work. I don't think he'll be as effective because he's gotten an injured ankle. There's also the risk that we've seen...

With several players, think about Rahim Moster. That's exactly why. That's my problem. It's not that if he plays, he's the starting running back. But an ankle problem, we see it all the time limiting how effective a player is. They just keep getting knocked out. I will give you an example of what I will do on Sunday. All right. If James Robinson is active and starting after what Doug Marone said and what's on the line for Jacksonville and I will put him out there over Ty Hilton. Okay.

I would put him out there over Robbie Anderson, either one of those guys. For me, personally. And I can see that. I think that's lower. At running back, you know, I would put him ahead of all the Wayne Galman's, Devon Singletary's, Sony Michelle's types. Edo Smith, Frank Gore? Yeah, I would put him ahead of them. But, you know, the other upper tier, and I would, you know, like Darrell Henderson, if I've got an option like that that I think is just solid, I will go with what I think is a safer play. Do you want to...

Say any final words, Mike, to Gardner as his career comes to a close? I don't think his career will be closed. But he's meant a lot to you. Oh, I love Gardner Minshu. Gardner Minshu is good for the NFL. Unfortunately, Gardner Minchew is not good in the NFL. Yeah. So short, concise, accurate. Short like his shorts. Yeah. He wears short shorts.

Short Jorts, Jason. Short Jords. It's right there. If James Robinson's out, are you tempted by Agumbo Alley or Ziegbo? No way. No. No, thank you. No. Say no. Say no. They're playing the bears. Yeah. Well, the bears have been better or worse than, than you think over the last six weeks. The last six weeks on the season. And also, they're the Jacksonville Jaguars. All right. All right.

Alan Robinson, yes, you are always starting Alan Robinson. David Montgomery, yes, he is going to win you your league. He had 32 carries last week. For 146 yards, Jacksonville is allowing the third most rushing yards, fourth highest yards before contact, and he is cruising along. The David Montgomery on the field and Jonathan Taylor on the field story has really changed over the last few weeks. It really has. Yeah, the Bears offense has.

has been better with Mitchell Trabisky, and David Montgomery has been a huge beneficiary of the threat of Mitchell's mobility. I don't even know if Codore Patterson will be active in this game. Montgomery could push 30 again. Oh, for sure. And they could win by 30. All right, the New York Giants, five and nine taking on the nine and five Baltimore Ravens, Ravens 11. 11 point. That's a palindrome.

Thank you, James. We already had one earlier. I was really disappointed. You did. Oh, what a loser. Yeah, pound dumb. All right. Ravens. Yeah, I deserve that. Minus 11. 45 point over under. I think this matchup is very, very interesting because the Giants defense has been good. Eighth against fantasy quarterbacks over the last six weeks. Second against fantasy wide receivers, lowering that Hollywood Brown Hope. And.

What do you do and where do you slot in Lamar Jackson for championship week? I know he's your quarterback, Mike. Yep. Yeah, he is a top five quarterback this week. Lamar Jackson is a different guy. I get that the Giants have been pretty stout in terms of their defense against fantasy quarterbacks. But the number that I like when I'm for starting Lamar Jackson in the last six weeks, 23rd against tight ends.

I don't really care about their wide receiver number because that's not how Lamar Jackson, that's not his number one target. Andrews. Mark Mandrews is the number one target. So Lamar Jackson is fine. It really feels like they have figured some things out the last couple weeks, including stop giving the ball to Mark Ingram. That is a positive thing for your football team. Lamar Jackson just looks far more comfortable on the field. He doesn't look as frazzled.

the last month. So I'm playing Lamar with full confidence in my championship. Lamar Jackson was always my Grinch. He's not, he's not my full Grinch because he could, you know, he can obviously explode. But the New York Giants defense has not been good against quarterbacks. They've been great against quarterbacks recently. A whole year, really. Yeah, I mean, they've been solid the whole year. But, you know.

the fantasy points above the opponent's average, if you look at that number over the last five weeks, it's outlandish. They are negative 12.7 points fewer than what that team's average is. That's what they've been given up. And during that stretch, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, mobile quarterbacks. I mean, this is not a good matchup for Lamar Jackson, who has been better recently but mediocre on the year. And I don't.

think he's a lock to be a top five quarterback this week. It feels like you two could possibly make some sort of water bet on Lamar Jackson this week based on the confidence level of Mike and your lack of confidence. All right. How about you said he's a top five? I'll go top eight outside the top eight quarterbacks. Water bet. That's very generous for Jason. I know. You got nice odds there. I would have taken seven. Yeah. But I would not have accepted six. Okay. It's good to know that now.

Andrews is a must start. J.K. Dobbins should see 15 plus touches. You know, it's not a smash top 12 type of week for him, I don't think, but I think he's very safe. Gus Edwards is a desperation play. You've got to be desperate. I'd rather play Chase Edmonds than Gus Edwards.

Wayne Galman, after last week, do you have any possible way that you want to put him out there? It's really tough. I mean, seeing a lot of Alfred Morris, seeing some Dionne Lewis. It's like he ran out of steam. He was, you know, a top 24 back. Jason, do you understand how tiring it is to fight crime at night and be an NFL player? Yeah, I think. When does he even sleep? Exactly. Yeah, that can work for about six weeks. Yeah, and then you run out and you need.

He's, you know, we're moving on. Yeah, the opportunities are going down. The opportunities are going down for Wayne Goldman. I don't want to play him this week against Baltimore. Even though Baltimore is beat up, I'm not doing it. Can you flex anybody on the New York side? I don't think so. When I look. Well, let's not then. Yeah, let's, I agree. No. No is the answer here because the quarterback situation is bad. What about pro bowl or Evan Ingram? Ridiculous.

Ridiculous that he's a pro bowler or ridiculous playing him championship week? Yes, and both. That is, no, I mean, I'm not rolling with Evan Ingraham personally. The Cincinnati Bengals at 310 and 1 taking on the 4-10 Houston Texans. Texans are eight and a half point favorites. They have met with Marvin Lewis to interview for the head coaching role for Houston. Of course, I'm a Marvin Lewis fan.

Of course, you would think that he did some good work at Arizona State after he left the NFL. I obviously never got over the hump with Cincinnati, but also was never at the bottom of the pile. And I guess that's kind of where you're at with Marvin Lewis. I'd still prefer Marvin Jones over Marvin Lewis. This week? Yeah. Okay. All right. Jason brought up Deshawn Watson. I like Deshaun Watson more than I like Jalen Hertz this week, so I'm on board with Deshawn Watson.

David Johnson, the wide receiver who plays running back for Houston, is a good start this week as well. We've kind of talked through a lot of these options on this team between starts of the week and then what's going on with Kiki QT and Hanson. So Brandon Cook's, this is a little ominous. Over the last five games, he's averaging 6.6 targets and 66.6 yards. Oh, so be warned.

Those aren't the beastly numbers you're looking for. But he's still the number one target here, the number one option that I would play from. We're talking about, okay, we would play Kiki QT, we'd play Mbop. But those guys are behind Brandon Cooks. Brandon Cooks is the play, and I think, you know, he could have a good week against Cincinnati who gives up, you know, a good chunk of big plays. They do. Third most, 20-plus yard pass plays in football. On the other side,

They're going to be without Tyler Boyd. He did not practice. He was concussed. I think he misses this week. That doesn't do much for you. Houston is a pretty bad defense. Gio Bernard is in consideration here after last week's performance. So I think he's a start right on the fringe running back two, three zone. Yeah, and I think we should throw T. Higgins name into the mix of, you know, we've been talking about a lot of players that you might take a shot on. The Texans.

Defense has been so bad. And while the quarterback plays terrible insincy, if Tyler Boyd is gone, you're just going to have 8, 9, 10 plus targets to T. Higgins. And I, you know, I think he's a talented enough human to make some, make something happen. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to play T. Higgins, but in a pinch. Right. Yeah. I don't know. Finley barely threw the ball. Right. Finley had 89 yards. That's why there's no game line in Vegas for this one.

is because yesterday you're like, is there really much of a difference between Ryan Finley and Brandon Allen? Yes. And I think there's a very big difference. Ryan Finley is, it's like he's Daniel Jones without the ability to pass at all. But they had the opportunity to play that way. And they were shutting down the Steelers who everyone is shutting down the Steelers. I just don't think that happens this week. The opportunity to play that way? They had the, the only option was to play that way. I mean, no. Option tunity. Ryan Finley has.

maxed out at 13 pass attempts this year. I think that shuts it down. Brandon Allen threw the ball a lot, and they could let him throw the ball. So I think if Brandon Allen starts, I'm with you. I would even consider AJ Green in that situation. Now, Brandon Allen is not probable to start. Yeah, he's not. So maybe then we, why are we talking about Bengals starts on championship week? I don't know. Pass attempts for Brandon Allen for what it's worth, 29, 1936. So.

running quarterback passing quarterback uh anyone else let's move on Denver 5 and 9 Chargers 5 and 9 oh man who's going to get to 6 wins I don't know I don't know Chargers 3 point favorites 49 point over under Denver won in week 8 31 to 30 so big time week in terms of production points Denver won on the KJ Hamler touchdown as time expired

due to the Chargers failing to manage the clock, which is their kind of thing. Yeah. Pace of play-wise, the Chargers are number one in plays per game. Denver's eighth in pace of play. That provides a lot of opportunity for fantasy. Justin Herbert, you guys are very confident in this week? Yes. Yeah, if I had Herbert? Would you play Herbert over Lamar? I would play Herbert over Lamar, yes. Okay. Drew Locke, still are you responsible? Yeah, forever. What's he getting for Christmas? Cole?

I mean, he'll probably spend way above his budget. Like, you know, he's not responsible. He's going to max out the credit cards for sure. For himself? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. This doesn't feel nice. All right. So Herbert, confident. Austin Echler, confident? Oh, yeah. Extremely confident. He's, he's been targeted so heavily. And, you know, the matchup is great against the Broncos. They're 29th against the run over the last six weeks. Austin Echler is.

You know, guaranteed in my lineup. Obviously, there's a little bit of worry from his utilization last week with the injury and you're like, ah, you wanted to see him more. But I haven't heard any negative things about, you know, his health right now. So I am personally confident. Let me blow your mind for a second with the running back on the other side of the ball. Melvin Gordon over the last three weeks is a 6.7 per carry runner. Melvin Gordon is over the last three weeks a.