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

able to give up plenty of yards. So I think Crocky Gilmore is both a safe play and he is...

a good option to get a touchdown this week, and that's what I look for in a tight-in. And that's really exactly what I was going to say, which is that you want to have a nice floor for your tight-in position. There aren't a lot of guys. And people like Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey hasn't had a lot of boom games, but he gives you a nice floor. And the guy that I like for that, and my start of the week at the tight-in position is... Start of the year. Pretty much. Third time I've done it, but his ownership percentage doesn't reflect... You know, you've got to start him. Delaney Walker.

Delaney Walker against Oakland, okay? And it's not just because this Oakland matchup, right? Like, they did that. They give you up a ton to tight-ins the first four weeks. They haven't been as bad since then. But Delaney Walker has six or more catches in five of six games. That's exactly what you want. Potential for a touchdown. Marcus Mario is my stream of the week from yesterday. So Delaney Walker, you can roll him back out there if you enjoyed him last week. So those are our sits of the week, our starts of the week, and it's time to talk games.

Fantasy Forecast If you think this episode's ending, you're wrong. We need to work in there. It's only just bigger. We need to work a nap break into here. Into this one? Just in the, if we could just pause for about 10 minutes so I could take a power nap and get ready for the fantasy forecast. I'm just glad you showed up today. I almost did. I had to text you on the way here to the studio and I was like, three question marks. You know what that means? Where are you?

Yeah, and then you walked in and your hair was all rock star. It's rock star hair? I don't know. Yeah. I don't know what it is. It reminds me, it's that or homeless person. That's hair envy. All right. There you go. Let's start it off. It's Thanksgiving Day games, which I adore, right? Every Thanksgiving, I have to navigate the television.

Because my family, some people, a few people watch football, most people don't. And so I have to kind of like navigate how to get the TV on in the background. And then, you know, if the meal time is anywhere in the vicinity, I have to, it's a very difficult situation. The great thing about Thanksgiving football is that a lot of families don't have to do that. Is that that's the one day where it's like.

Oh, that's just tradition. You put the games on it. I'm working on it. Yeah. Because, see, I'm going to my parents' house. Ah. If it was at my house, it would be my rules, and we wouldn't even eat. There you go. No, we would eat. Well, as you come together with family around football, let's be honest, tell them about the fancy footballers. Your family needs the help. Trust me. Eagles, they take on the lions. The lions always play on Thanksgiving. This is an interesting game. The lions are favored.

Or I'm sorry, the Eagles are favored by a point. So, fantasy-wise, what are we looking at in this matchup? Well, first off, we've got to figure out who the quarterback for the Eagles is. The news came out that Bradford was cleared, but we don't know if he's going to start. Because he has more than a concussion. Right. And so we've got to figure out what's going on up there. There's a John Fox situation brewing in Philadelphia.

I don't appreciate this Chip Kelly. Let's get it together. We need to know. Yeah, I mean, if you're talking about streaming one of those two quarterbacks, we do need to know. I don't think it makes a big difference. When I was statting my players out and considering who's starting, I don't think I really change anyone. There's nobody that I think goes definitely up or definitely down with the change between Bradford and is there anybody that you guys see where?

It's going to make a big effect on anybody? Well, if I'm playing, let's say I'm desperate for a defense and the Lions have been great recently. It does make a little bit of a difference. If it's Sanchez, I'm confident there's going to be some interceptions. If it's Bradford, there probably will be. I would be confident that I would just say that if it's Sanchez, you know that there's going to be at least one or two picks coming. And so let's break down these positions.

I do have one thing I want to mention right off the bat. Okay. And he is somebody that could have very easily be a start or sit, I'm sorry, a start or stream of the week. And that is Brent Selleck. Brent Selleck is likely to be the only tight end of this game. Because Zackertz is in the concussion protocol. The concussion protocol is supposed to last five days. Right. So the odds of him playing on Thanksgiving are Zach Ertz, are very, very low. And Brent Zellick had a good game a couple weeks ago. So Brent Selleck is somebody who, if you're at the bottom of the barrel,

If you're staring down another Ebron start, I'd rather start Brin Selig. Absolutely. No, I like that start a lot. From the tight end, I mean, yeah, you've got Ebron on one side and Seleck on the other, and that's good. From the running backs, this is a crazy polar game when it comes to running back situations.

between these two teams. You have the lions allow the most in the league by a wide margin of two plus rushing touchdowns in a game. And on the other side, the Eagles have allowed no rushing touchdowns in 80% of their games. So I don't expect him to give up a rushing touchdown in this one either, to Joyick Bell and company. Yeah, that's... According to some metrics that we were looking at yesterday, Joyc Bell has had what would be defined as a

Bust game, every single game of the entire season. That's so weird. Yeah, right. And Ryan Matthews, speaking of concussion protocol, Ryan Matthews is still in the protocol. I do not expect him to play, which is another huge opportunity for DeMarco Murray. Now, Murray, play calling game flow, not sure what happened, but he did not seize the opportunity last week, and Sproles was able to rat off a touchdown. That's what I was going to ask you. Darren Sproles, do you start him, Jason?

Yeah, well, I mean, it depends on your... Darren Sproles, Duke Johnson. I kind of like Duke this week. Yeah, Duke because McCown's back. With McCown and against Baltimore. But I would absolutely be willing to start Aaron Sproles. You saw last week he was involved, had almost 40 yards through the air, 20 on the ground, and he got a touchdown. You look at the fact that the Lions give up touchdowns to the running back position. That being said...

These lions are playing really good. So he would be a deeper flex option for me. Okay. So would you start, just to throw some names out there, would you start Rashad Jennings or Darren Sproles? Jennings, coming off a by Jennings. Jennings. Charles Sims or Darren Sprouls? Ooh. Man, probably Sims, but that's pretty close. I think I would go Sproles there. I like Sims more as a player I want on my team. All right, last one. Carlos Williams or Darren Sprouls?

Darren Sproles. Sproles. Okay. And a guy who could have easily been a sit-of-the-week if everyone wasn't already sitting him is Jordan Matthews, who's been highly disappointing. Terrible. And I'm not sure what's going to happen as far as the coverage, but Darius Slay up in Detroit. Complete shutdown. Has been a monster the last three games. I believe he's allowed.

About 17 yards. Yeah, I was going to say one catch or something. In the last three weeks. So if he is on Matthews or whoever Darius Slay is on, there's going to be trouble for that wide receiver. It's also another reason I like Seleck this week. So we're starting Calvin Johnson. I like Golden Tate is somebody that we kind of like. I don't know what's going on in Philadelphia, to be honest, with the defense and everything. That was such a weird game last week. But...

Any other thoughts in this game before you move it on? The last thought, are you still confident? Because I'm asking for a friend, not for me, not the guy who owns the Eagles defense. Are you still confident starting them as a defensive unit coming off of that horrific loss to Tampa Bay? I am confident. Even after that horrific loss, I believe they're the fourth highest scoring defense in the league. The Lions aren't exactly an offense. They've been doing great on defense, but they're an offense that can do a pick six.

you know, every other game. So I'm not, I'm not off of the Eagles. I would start them in this game. I generally, when I see that type of thing happen, I wait a week to start the defense because I want to see what the trend looks like. You know, you have defenses that are trending really positive now, Kansas City, Houston. You got defenses that are going the other direction. You know, the Jets haven't been that good, that type of thing. So let's move on here to the other Thanksgiving Day game. We have three of them. This is the Panthers going to Dallas to take on the Cowboys.

In the game I'm looking forward to do the most, because I want to see Cam Newton and Tony Romo and this battle on Thanksgiving Day, the undefeated team. Cam Newton, since I believe week five, is the number one quarterback in fantasy football. We looked this up yesterday. That is a start every week guy. You never set him down. Baseline, very high for Cam Newton. And, you know, the truth is, is they're a team that runs the ball a ton.

You know, Jonathan Stewart's got, I believe, six straight weeks of 20 plus carries. 53% of their plays are running plays because Cam Newton is taking the read option. And Tolbert gets involved too. They run all the time. Doesn't Tolbert seem like the perfect Thanksgiving Day running back? Oh, he sure does. He is thankful for...

Yeah, he's thinking for a job. Mike Tolbert, Jonathan Stewart, Darren McFadden. We had this discussion earlier in the week. We kind of like McFadden a little bit more rest of season than Jonathan Stewart. What about this game specifically? Oof, man. Darren McFadden is just, his floor is so great. I mean, the offense, I expect the Cowboys offense to be.

to continue rolling. I know Carolina has a great defense, but with Romo back, and this is actually as a counterpoint, let me get your opinion on this. Tony Romo hasn't played football in weeks, right? He comes in, he plays Sunday, so he's getting hit. You know, you've got to deal with that NFL soreness.

He's on a very short rest and has had no time really to acclimate to the game. Do you think that can affect Tony Romo's performance at all? I do. I think it can affect play calling. Now, I'm not saying you binge Roma, but one, it's a bad matchup, right? You've got him going up against a great defense in a short week. So I think it can affect them, but I'm not going to go crazy on that. To answer Andy's question, I like Darren McFadden better in this game. Both defenses are good.

It's not like the Panthers have a good defense and Jonathan Stewart's going to be able to run all over the Cowboys. Both running backs are going to come up against tough defenses. I think that Darren McFadden, he doesn't get split. You know, Stewart does give up. He seeds more carries to Tolbert and Cam than DMC does to.

Turban. Yeah, I mean, that's a tough argument for me. But Stewart's number two in the league and carries. Yeah, to me, it's the catches. The catches said, Darren McFadden. You guys want to make a bet? Stewart versus McFadden, because I'd take Stewart in this game. That's a fun one to me on Thanksgiving. You got it, buddy. I mean, you just said McFadden, so. Waterbed. Now we got something else to pay attention to on Thanksgiving. So Stewart versus McFadden. To answer your Romo question that you were posing, I'm not worried about it.

I agree that it could be a problem, but he also gets the benefit of now being acclimated to a game. You know, like I wanted to wait for Romo to have a game back before I felt confident in him now that he's got a second game at home. I'm okay with it. You're starting Des Bryant. What about Devin Funches? Would you flex Devin Funches this week? If you're desperate, maybe as a wide receiver three or flex, but that's the highest consideration I can give him. Okay. That's very fair.

Very fair. I'm trying to see exactly where we have him ranked. At the best, one of us has him at 30 this week, 46 on the worst. He's our 40th by consensus. So he's outside that top three. So deeper leagues, leagues where you've got three wide receivers and a flex. Maybe those are leagues you're thinking about Devin Funches. So Witten was a sit of the week for me. Do you guys agree with that take? Are you okay with Witten? I would prefer to sit him.

The tight end is that tricky position. It is. I don't know if you have a better option off of the waiver wire. But I agree that you need to temper your expectations. The Panthers are a tremendous defense against the tight end. All right. Anything else do you want to talk about in this matchup? Nope. Okay. Let's move it on. Bears taking on the Packers. Packers heavily favored. Bears have been in a lot of games, either winning them or a tight one this past weekend and couldn't get the two-point conversion. This game, it's going to be cold. There might be a little bit of rain.