Starts of the Week + Week 5 Games, Smooshed! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/8

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Do something, George. Here we get Dallas tonight. Please. George. Thursday, October 8, 2026. George, I see the money slipping away.

I mean, you see it falling through your hands, George. He's going to be fine. I know, I know. He's always been inconsistent. Like, we had a, we had a fake consistent stretch last year where it was like, oh, oh, he's the guy. It's just, this is who he is. Well, I mean, he was the guy when there was no CD. Right. That was, that was, he was good when CD was there as well. But not consistent. Right. Thus, those last two weeks where everyone was like, oh, George's quit on the team.

I mean, I think it is unfortunately a fair conversation to have about, like, he was always inconsistent with Pittsburgh. Then you're the dude for DAC, which is a big upgrade to anything you had in Pittsburgh. And then CD came back. I mean, calling someone inconsistent playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they have absolute hot doodoo trash throwing you the ball. I'm not calling him anything. I'm just speaking. Jason is. I'm speaking.

Statistically. Yeah, I mean, I'm saying he was inconsistent. Yes. I only said that because he was inconsistent. So his reasons for being inconsistent, I don't know. But I also think it's not just the do-do trash garbage throwing him the ball, which was for sure, do-do trash. Thank you. It was bad. But it's also his archetype. Like the same reason that Jameson Williams is not going to, you know, he's not the every.

third down possession, you know, chain mover type guys. The run down the field catch amazing, crazy, cool, fantasy relevant bombs. Four of the last six games, he was wide receiver 30 or later last year, which is crazy. Mixed in with the wide receiver four. He was the wide receiver five on the year. Yeah. But maybe we saw, I mean, you go back to about week seven. Which games were you saying? Well, just go from week seven.

So week seven, you had one, two, three, four, five, six, six of eight at 27 or lower. So I think that is archety. And then you had the super high volume in that five week stretch where that's 150 target pace. Also from week seven on, all those bad games you talked about three times in the top five. He's awesome. Not only played George Pickens, trade for George Pickens. Like, he's going to have.

bright, amazing days ahead. And right now I think some people are afraid that, especially after last week where CD got everything, where it's just like, oh, we were wrong. This is CD's team and George is not involved. That's not the truth either. Yeah, I mean, this is not JMO because JMO has more competition in a lot of regards in terms of Leporta, greater sign Ferguson, Gibbs, greater sign Javante in the receiving game. Like, Pickens is the second fiddle. Jamo can be the fifth fiddle. Yeah.

If the game goes the wrong way. Tell you what, that's not beating the devil. No, no, it's not. We have so much to talk about today. NFL news to get into starts of the week, tons of matchups for week five. Lots going on. A lot of like injury situations that are just like murky and quiet right now. So it's important if you have an injured player. You'll want to tune in on Friday to our Injury Blitz podcast hosted by our injury expert Matthew Betts. It comes out in the afternoons on Friday after the final practice reports.

are released. We'll get you up to date as much as we can today on stuff. The communities over at Jointhefoot.com. That's how you get access to that podcast. A bonus episode of this show every week. The Ultimate Dashboard, which is an elite tool to get your lineups right for all your leagues. You can import from every platform and optimize your lineups. We've got all the in-season tools and all that at Jointhefoot.com. Let's talk some news. News and notes from around the league.

Yeah, Brooks does point out the fact that, you know, Pickens was drafted as the wide receiver 10 this year, whereas like Jamos drafted in the fifth round, third round, fifth round. Yeah, because I mean, that's right. Through four weeks, you expected at least, at least one bought a boom from George. It could happen tonight. So it shall. I'm excited. We shall speak it into existence. There you go. The Panthers are hopeful Jalen Coker will be ready to return to action following the week five by. So they're on by this week. You don't get Tet after his huge performance.

No Darren Waller, no Chuba, no Coker, but they're hoping he's back. Which, I mean, cool. It's good for Bryce Young, good for the offense. Lamar Jackson did not practice on Wednesday. They're the Sunday night football game. Hopefully we have answers so that Mike doesn't have to panic. It was being reported that today is going to be. Like if he practices today, he's got a chance to play. If he doesn't practice today, he's not going to play. So I think we'll know well in advance, but.

The assumption is that it's an uphill battle for him to play because he has a mysterious type of ankle injury. It's unorthodox. It's not high. It's not low. It's just right. It's a Goldilocks ankle situation. Matt LaFleur says Jeremiah Love's ankle injury, quote, shouldn't impact him for week five against the Lions. So that's helpful. That's helpful because. Jeremiah Love sure sounded like it was going to impact him. There's just some players. Like I have a league with Jeremiah Love, right? I have to choose.

Do I play Jacob Dobbins this week over love? Do I play Ollie Gordon this week over love? Like I think Jeremiah Love is an actual like start sit conundrum for this week. For sure. Because the matchup, we love it. If LaFleur isn't a liar here that his ankle injury shouldn't impact him, then he should get a lot of work, right? Would you play love over those guys? I'd play love over both of those guys. I watched some practice videos. Which one in particular? Both. Certainly over JK Dobbins. Dobbins has been so bad. Put him in order is what I'm saying. Oh, of the three? Yeah.

Would you play Ollie Gordon? I mean, I would definitely play Ollie Gordon ahead of J.K. Dobbins. Love. Even with the matchup. Would you play Jeremiah Love or Aaron Jones asking for? Aaron Jones. That one's awesome play. Aaron Jones is a great. But you would play Jeremiah Love over Ollie Gordon against Cincinnati? I personally would. All right. I'm going to make that change for my friend over here. I mean? It's all in your hands, Mike.

Don't blame me. Justin Jefferson says he plans to play in week five against the Saints. Final decision has not been made, but he said he feels great. That's awesome. That's bad news for T.J. Hawkinson, who was one of the big waiver pickups this week. I think you can still start him. The matchup is okay, and Kyler has obvious comfortability with him. That being said, don't expect if Jefferson is there for Hawkinson to go out there and get.

a dozen targets and 100 yards, that's just not in the cards. Yeah, those targets should go to. It rhymed. It did. They should go to Jefferson. Steelers head coach, Mike McCarthy, said that the worst receiver of all time, according to Aaron Rogers. Michael Pittman re-injured his foot and is now expected to miss multiple weeks. Do you think that was like a misery, Aaron Rogers in the night? I don't with a hammer. I think he, yeah, he stepped on his foot. He's got plantar, man.

He's been trying to gut it out. It's just one of those, like, if you don't play, you're soft. If you go out there and you have a bum foot, you're like, that guy sucks. Yeah, no, I agree. It's an impossible situation for Pittman. But Roman Wilson, the Metcalf targets to continue, tight ends. Roman Wilson is a fascinating stash. He's been playing very well. He's not getting like, the peripherals aren't. It's like 30% snaps or something. Yeah, they aren't outrageously great, but maybe with.

If Pittman is for sure out of the way, Roman, Jeremy Bernard, the matchup for the Steelers and Aaron Rogers this week is. No, just dominating Matt Cap performances coming up. We all know. The targets. The targets share will be dominance. He looks. What about the catch share? Can I tell you, he looks too big for his pets. He really does. He looks like if a kid tried to dress up as a football player because, I mean, he's just gigantic.

I always look at him. I'm like, you, you are, he is a weird man in that side. He should dominate. He came back. He should. Absolutely dominant. That is true. All right. We got starts. Starts of the week. Brought to you by Apple Card. All right. The starts of the week for week five starting at quarterback, Jason, we'll let you lead the way.

I'm going to stay in the flames. Jared Goff has been on fire. He's in Arizona. It's a massive over under through the first month of the season. Goff is second passing yards, tied for second passing touchdowns, third in completions. Arizona's defense doesn't exist.

So, yeah, I mean, if you have been playing Jared Goff, congratulations, continue to do so with confidence. Quarterback five on the year, Mike, who do you have it? Quarterback. It's my streamer, from streamer to starter, start of the week. And you picked him up everywhere and it pisses me off because I needed him in a couple of places and you just, you, Foglan, Mike believes in the start of the week. You literally every single league we're in picked them up. Look, this is what I'm giving the advice. I'm not just talking about it. I'm living it.

If this fails, Fookland, I fail with you. But it really should not. Although the entire process here, it's Jacobi Berset in that game. Jay, you laid it all out. And I did on the stream of the week as well. But the highlights, Detroit allowing over 300 passing yards per game, the guys who put up top five finishes, Shuck Daddy, Josh Allen, Gino Smith, Bryce Young. I feel confident enough in Jacoby this week.

I like both of your starts more than mine. But if you got my homes, Bryce Young, somebody on by, you need a spot start. You don't like Herbert. This one's wild because yes. It should work. Bo Nix. Bo Nix against the Chargers. They're three and a half point road favorites. Chargers defense right now. What messes up Bo Nix the most pressure does? 24th in pressure rate. 24th in explosive pass rate allowed 25th and yards per attempt. Not a real running game to like.

You know, we forget the 10 targets to the running through the air with R.J. Harvey, that benefits a player like Bo Nex. Sure. So I think Bono Nix is. Sean Payton taking over play calling duties. Yes. Is that the rumor mental? Recent report is that he would be more heavily involved in play calling duties, according to Ian Rappaport. The way that I... It will remain collaborative. Yeah. The way... With Davis Webb continuing to be a major voice in the game day and during the week. Here's what I genuinely believe is the case.

I believe Sean Payton is going to fully take over play calling duty this week. And because the next following week is a short week, he's going to say, hey, Davis, I'm not taking it all over. You do next week. You can prepare. I'll do this week. Next week is the Seahawks. And so he's just putting Davis Webb out there to die. Like, oh, I got to take it back again. You didn't do good against the Seahawks. Does Sean Payton make Davis Webb call him coach? For sure. Or Mr. Payton? Yeah, the same way that, yes, chef.

You ever heard Sean Payton talk before? Yeah, I have. That's why I'm asking the question. It's not a dude who gives up power very easily. Yeah. Hey, coach. Instead of Sean. I have Jalen Hertz, Tyler Shuck, and Bo Nix in my dynasty. Oh. Andy, are you telling me as the start of the week, you would... Shuck is against Minnesota, right? Yes. Yeah. And Jayhurt is against himself. He's against Suck.

I mean, that's the Jacksonville matchup. No, I would play Boney. That's who I have in my lineup right now. You have them in Dynasty? Yeah. Oh. Running back starts of the week, Jason. I've got in that Jalen Hertz game, Bachel Tutin, he's averaging 17 opportunities a game. I know the Eagles defense is good. They look awesome. You know, they're scary on paper. But they were destroyed by Kairn Williams last year. They are tied for second year. Last week.

I pulled an Andy there. You've done that before? Tide for second most rushing touchdowns allowed so far this season. They're 28th and yards after contact per attempt. So I think Tutin is fine here. I wouldn't be scared off of the matchup. He's getting enough opportunities and you just love the Jags offense. And the Tutin breakout. We're just, we're on the verge. He's played so well. I test.

Fantastic. Advanced metrics. Fantastic. Total fantasy points. Just lacking. But he feels like we're just, we're there, man. Like last week, 10 fantasy points. You're not excited. But it's like, that's not killing you. That's not killing you while he's not breaking out. He's been absolutely fine. So what did you trade for him? Yes. All right, Mike, who's your running back? It's gross, but I'm waving the white flag here of the Denver Broncos backfield. RJ Harvey.

17 opportunities this past week, and it was a, we know that that matchup, we're getting a lot of targets to the running back position, but 10 targets, target is worth so much more. The disgusting nature of the Broncos offense, because Bo Nix is throwing it down, just checking it down real short, and I don't know why. Boring points. Yeah, they're boring points, but I'm just going to accept them from RJ Harvey against the Chargers this week.