Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 12 Thanksgiving Episode Part 1, Starts, Sits, Matchups

My running back sit of the week is James Starks against the Chicago Bears. The tide is turning once again towards Eddie Lacey, who had a very big week. I think the Packers realized, and we all realize that James Starks is really, really good in the change of pace role, and he really hasn't been good in that starting role. And I really don't want to start a change of pace back this week against Chicago. Limited snaps. I just don't want them in my lineup, so I'm sitting James Starks down. Very similar arguments to Jeremy Langford.

for being set down. So my wide receiver sit of the week, Tavon Austin. Tavon Austin is still a, I believe he's 23 in our league in the wide receiver rankings, but he's had a terrible last couple of weeks. He's going up against Cincinnati, and I don't like the matchup. I think it's time to sit him down until he shows you something else. They have a different quarterback in play now. Case Keenum should start.

If cleared, he's going to start yet. Looking like he will. But Tavon Austin, I don't want to start him. I didn't choose somebody else. And Tavon is just, that's exactly kind of what we expected, where the guy is getting just such a low opportunity that what he was doing was not sustainable. I mean, he kept proving us wrong where he had a great stretch of a few weeks, but not sustainable. So I agree. I'm moving on.

The guy that I'm going to sit is going to be Devante Adams. Oh, wow. Devante Adams to me is, you know, I went out on a limb. You called him out. I said that he stinks. The reason that he's definitely startable is because he's normally the number one target for Aaron Rogers. Well, that's just great. Even if you stink, you're going to have production. This last week, however, he did not.

James Jones was the guy that was involved. He only had three for 36 this last week, and this week, he is going up against Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears, you might not think of as a great defense, but for the last month, the last four games consecutively, including matchups against, you know, Phillip Rivers, they have not given up 150 total yards to wide receivers in a game.

In fact, the last two weeks. To all wide receivers. To all combined wide receivers on a team. The last two weeks, they haven't even given up 100 total yards from all of those. Now, I expect maybe those to be broken by Aaron Rogers this week. But I just don't feel comfortable starting Devante Adams when he can drop the few passes he's going to be getting in a game against a good defense. Did get reported that Ty Montgomery is out this week yet again. All right. So Mike. I am going to sit. My sit of the week at the wide receiver is T.Y. Hilton.

All right. And this is because Tampa Bay over the last two weeks, it was only giving up 10 catches and 100 yards to the wide receiver core. To all wide receivers, that's all they're giving up on average the last couple weeks. And Hilton last week, two for 21 against Atlanta. We know the limitations of Hasselbeck. So Hilton absolutely can take one of those short passes and bust it open, but that's not the kind of play that I want to have to count on.

from my starting wide receiver. And I want to make sure that when we talk about sits of the week, we're not talking about the fact that Mike is going to sit T.Y. Hilton at all costs. He's saying that this is my perspective on this guy this week. He's a starting wide receiver, right? But Mike has him as opposed to up in that starting echelon range. He hasn't met 31 this week. He's got guys like Michael Crabtree, Golden Tate, Jarvis Landry, Amari Cooper, Alan Hearns. These are guys that he has ahead of him. We're saying, if you've got a better option,

the kind of, you take a temperature of this game and T.Y. Hilton comes out not so good. Yeah, these are guys, we could call the segment, guys we don't like very much this week, but that just doesn't sound as good as since the week. I totally agree. It's all about branding. So what? We're going to do tight ends. All right, let me kick off the tight ends. I'm going to kick off the tight ends. Do we have a good, I don't know if we have a drop for this. Eric Ebron. Last week, our.

or mics. I see how it happens. Well, he had the best matchup last week against Oakland. Eric Ebron started the year on fire. He is a talented guy, but he hasn't been able to catch the ball recently. In his last three combined games, his last three that he started and been healthy in, he has seven and a half total fantasy points.

In all three combined. So this week, he's going up against the team that is second best against the tight-in. The Philadelphia Eagles have given up the second fewest points to tight-in, which means he should not be played, and he is going to go off this week. He's going to score 700 fantasy points. Eric Ebron, the bane of our listeners' existence this last week. And your sit of the week. And my set of the week. My set of the week, Charles Clay.

He has disappeared from the Buffalo offense. He's still the leaving pass catcher on that team. But the last few weeks is just not happening for Clay. I'm not sure exactly what's going on. And he's gone ghost. He has to take on the Kansas City Chiefs who are.

On fire as a defense. I picked Charles Clay as my sit of the week, and when I went in the dock, I saw you already had it. So I definitely agree. I'm going to go with Jason Whitten. You just can't trust it right now. Going up against Carolina on Thanksgiving. Single digits, the last four games. I don't see it changing against Carolina. That's the long and the short of it. Yeah, now let's get positive. Starts of the week. We've never done these back to back. I mean, this is... You realize how much more of this episode there is?

Oh, you know, I felt like we were at the end, and then I kept scrolling. No, no, no. We got all the matches. All right. Quarterback start of the week, or as I like to call it, my board of the week? I'm going with Blake Bortles, baby. He's at home against San Diego, and they've all been giving up. Yeah, I really believe that. I love the matchup. I love the momentum. Jacksonville hasn't won two games in a row in forever. They got two in a row right now.

They're in Jacksonville. Bortles is very high on my rankings this week. So if you have him, I know you're a little bummed out over the last performance that you saw from him, but I have him at eight this week, and I think he has the potential to be in that top five with a good week. And I'm going with Eli Manning. Back to the Giants. He's coming off of the buy, and he just dropped 3602 on the Patriots. He has a delightful matchup in Washington.

So I really like Eli Manning. I believe he's as high as number three for me this week. So I love him. Love him with many smooches this week. Yes, I love him as well. My start of the week sounds obvious at first glance. It is Big Ben Rothlessberger, but I know that there are a lot of questions coming in as to whether or not you start him. He's going up against the Seattle Seahawks.

in Seattle. That sounds terrible. And when you look at the stats on the year and you go, wow, the Seahawks, they're the fourth best against the quarterback. So they are what we thought they are, except they're not really. Because when you look deeper at the numbers, you see that they played Chicago without Jay Cutler. They played San Francisco and, you know, with the, uh, Blaine Gabbart, new.

They played Dallas without Tony Romo. They have a bunch of games where, yeah, they shut down garbage quarterbacks. But Carson Palmer goes to Seattle, puts up 363 yards and three touchdowns. And the offense of the Arizona Cardinals are very similar to the offense with a healthy offense.

in Pittsburgh, you know, where Bruce Ariens is from. So I think Big Ben has a fine game. I have no problem starting him. I think he's like my fifth or sixth quarterback this week. So don't be afraid of the Seahawks. He's got enough weapons there to get it done. All right, running backs. Mike, why don't you kick it off? My running back start of the week. Jha Javarius! I love it. Yeah. Oh, Jason's dabbing.

We googled what dabbing was. Don't worry, Foot Clan. Yeah, we took care of that. We looked it up. I had to do some research. I've never felt older in my life. When I had to say, Google, what is dabbing? Well, and the answer we got was great, because dabbing is dabbing. Yeah. It's a hot new dance, apparently, that the kids are doing these days. It's a lot like a sneeze, but it's a dance. Because I can sneeze with the best of them.

My start is Jefforius Allen. He's coming. There's no one else really to take carries, and he's playing the Browns. One of the worst running defenses in the league. I expect lots of rushing yards and a lot of dumpoffs from Matt Schaub. So I love Allen this week. My running back start of the week, you say that the Browns are one of the worst in the league, and they are. You want to know the only team that's worse than them?

The San Diego Chargers. They have no running game. You saw that last week when Charkandric West started tearing them up, went down, and then his backup came in and tore them up. So I'm going with the guy who we just said today has not scored 20 fantasy points in a single game, which is T.J. Yeldon. I love to start. I think they're going to be able to run on San Diego because, of course, they are. And T.J. Yeldon is super involved. Gets the carries, gets involved in the passing game. Love them.

All right, I'm going to go with Thomas Rawls. Now everybody who has him is probably starting him. But look, when you look at the numbers, Pittsburgh is number one.

against fantasy running backs, but I believe Thomas Rawls, the workload. We talked about Seattle, 147 yards a game average. Pittsburgh gave up a lot of yards and fantasy points to Frank Gore a couple of weeks ago, and Thomas Rawls ran like a maniac last week. So I'm very confident starting him in one of my two running back spots. My wide receiver start of the week is actually Stevie Johnson. Stevie Johnson faces Jacksonville.

He's really their one viable passing option right now. Seven catches in back-to-back weeks. He hasn't done a ton with them. Been very good in PPR. So in PPR leagues, I'm really confident starting Stevie. But he's my start of the week at the wide receivers. My start of the week is a bit of a gamble. But I mean, that's what he is every single week that you play him. It's Deshaun Jackson. The Sean Jackson is back. He is finally healthy. He's a big boomer bust candidate. But if you're going to boom...

You're going to boom against the New York Giant secondary. So this is a game that Vegas says has one of the, it's got the second highest line for total points scored. If you're Kirk Cousins, you're looking to get Deshaun Jackson free over the top. So I think this is a game you can play him and he could, you know, very well catch one of those 60-yard touchdown bombs this game. And I'm going with Travis Benjamin because Josh McCown is back. Josh McCown is going to drop bombs. That will be the last time.

McCown faced Baltimore was that huge game, the 450-plus yards. And in that game, Travis Benjamin put up 6 for 83, so I like Benjamin this week. Okay, let's go to the tight-end position. At the tight-end position, I am starting. Rule 86, everybody, Rule 86, because he faces the Giants. And this is only if he's healthy, because we know the MCL is a big part of his game, as well as Antonio Gates.

He's expected to play, and the Giants are horrific against the tight end. So I think that Jordan Reed from Washington can have a huge game, and I'll leave it at that. What? There was a listener who wrote in this morning and said, we are the MCL to their fantasy football game. Very nice. So, yeah. All right, I am going with my special man, the butter man himself. Betty Crockett.

Gilmore. Betty Crockett Gilmore is my new favorite player. Just because I love butter so much and he reminds me of it. Betty Crockett. Betty Crockett, Gilmore. Still.

Oh my goodness. So here's the deal. He's about the only option left over there with Jay Cutler going down, normally back-up quarterbacks. You've seen him come in and use the tight end. More Steve Smith is gone. A good pass-catching option. And Justin Fawcett is gone. And Crockett has been more and more involved. Last week he had over 100 yards. And this week he's going up in Cleveland against a team that is, you know,