Starts of the Week + Week 8 Breakdown, “Little Bit Rain” - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/29

And the other options of this game, it's rough, man. You're playing Stefan Diggs, of course. John Brown did practice so that if you're looking for the silver lining here for Josh Allen, it would be John Brown. Get him back on the field. That really helps the passing attack. Devin Singletary, Zach Moss. Nope. Yeah. Zach Moss, seven for 47 last week. He did have three receptions.

So between the two of them, I'm probably playing Zach Moss if I have to play a Buffalo Bill running back, which I want to play neither of them right now. But the player I wanted to highlight real quick is Cole Beasley. Cole Beasley has been playing well. I would be playing him as a wide receiver 3. I would be playing Cole Beasley this week over like Jerry Judy, you know, Sterling Shepherd. C.D. Lamb.

12 targets last week. Cole Beasley is a fine PPR floor play this week. I just want to say while he's been great the last two weeks, that has come at the same time that John Brown hasn't been on the field. If John Brown is back in this game, I'm not positive that you're going to be, I mean, sure, a PPR super baseline he's got because he's going to have, you know, five or six receptions. But.

I think that his numbers were inflated the last two weeks. Yes, I agree with that. That's why I'm not saying you're playing Cole Beasley as a wide receiver two this week. But if you can attack the Patriots passing game anywhere, it's from the slot. So that's why Cole Beasley still play for me. The Tennessee Titans at 5-1 take on the Cincinnati Bengals at 1-5-and-1. Titans are 5.5.5-point road favorites. It's a 53 and a half point over-under, giving them just under 30 implied.

points and giving the Bengals 24. So this is a, at least in the Vegas numbers, a potential, you know, fantasy bonanza type of game. Ryan Tannehill has been outstanding this year and is sitting here as a player that Jason's going to bring up a little bit later in the show. So a player he really likes this week. And I agree. I am playing him over Josh Allen. I said it yesterday. Joe Burrow leading the NFL in past attempts.

taking on a Titans defense that really across the board has been far inferior to what we expected. 27th against quarterbacks, 23rd against running backs, 31st against wideouts, 26 against tight end. Man, I'm not going to do it, but it's tempting to pick Cincinnati for an upset here. I just don't think you're going to get that against a rookie quarterback. But this game should, I think it's going to hit that over under. I think it's going to go above it.

Yeah, I mean, you've seen Burrough step up two weeks in a row after really being dominated by Baltimore. Baltimore's defensive line just played with the Bengals' offensive line. And since that time, you've had a couple of, you know, difficult matchups. They played the Indianapolis Colts, and they played the Browns last week with Miles Garrett and...

Both of those games, Burroughs stepped up, 27 points, 34 points for the Bengals offense. I agree with you. I think this has the potential to be a back and forth scoring affair, and I believe Burroughs up to the task. Joe Burrow has hit 300 passing yards in five of seven games in his rookie season. It's been pretty amazing for him, which means his passing options, they are in play for me. T. Higgins.

In my opinion, is the wide receiver one for the Cincinnati Bengals. He is in. Tyler Boyd is safe. And he's in on AJ Green as his taking it up to 100 player. All three of them are playable. Yes. I will have to disagree with the contention that T. Higgins is the wide receiver one. I don't mind you playing him. But from a target perspective, an involvement perspective, Boyd and Green have been more targeted by a pretty large margin in the past two weeks. I think, and I'm going to speak for you, Mike.

When you say he's the number one option, I don't think you're saying as far as Reed, but as far as fantasy value. Fantasy value and the best wide receiver on the team. Right. Boyd is great. A.J. Green has been fine in his new role inside, which has allowed T. Higgins to move to the outside. But the valuable fantasy, the deep balls that weren't connecting with A.J. Green are connecting with T. Higgins. And those are just so valuable for fantasy, where one play, you can get 40, 50 yards and a touchdown.

This is the matchup that I think works for T. Higgins, especially considering that, and we'll get into this a little bit later, but if you look specifically at Tennessee's defense and where they give up points, I think it's a great matchup for T. Higgins. Now, this is one of those weird situations where I think you could take a shot on all of the whiteouts, but I actually would not play Burrow in this game. Interesting. Because Burroughs had a pretty rough go.

for the majority of his weeks. And even though he's passing for, you know, a lot of past attempts, there have been mistakes, interceptions, and not great fantasy weeks outside of last week. So I would not be playing Joe Burrow against Tennessee. I think it's just too schematically I worry about Burrow in this game. It was a reason why I benched him a couple weeks ago. Do you guys think you're willing to roll him out there? I...

Yeah, I would be willing to plug him in, but I don't see him as, you know, we talk about you can play all three of these wide receivers, and I think you can. That doesn't mean Joe Burrow is this smash start, but also I think he's a top 15 option this week. Like Joe Burrow or Baker Mayfield against Vegas. I think I'd go Baker in that situation, yeah. Joe Burrow or Jimmy Garoppolo versus Seattle.

I would probably play Jimmy. Yeah, it's tough because there's been three games this year where Burrow has no passing touchdowns. The yardage and the attempts are there, but he's throwing a pick every week. I just worry a little bit about that. The, you know, Baltimore, Indianapolis slowed him down. Cleveland didn't. So I guess it just depends on what you think Tennessee can do on the road. It's not the end of the world. I mean, I'd play him over a handful of other quarterbacks.

Johnny Smith, I think you can put him back out there this week, bounce back week for him, AJ Brown, yep, Derek Henry, of course. Anybody else from this game you guys wanted to discuss? Joe Mixing is the big question mark. He didn't practice on Wednesday. I believe he'll play. But I thought that last week in the middle of the show, who's declared out. Yeah, I do not think he'll play. They have a bye week next week. He's too important to the future of this team. I can't.

I don't think they'd rush him when they get so much extra time. Yeah, and if he is out, really the important thing is Giovanni Bernard would be a full confidence play. The Las Vegas Raiders, three and three, taking on the Cleveland Browns, who are five and two. This game has a 44 and a half point over under. And it should be, it should be an interesting one. We don't have Odell Beckham Jr.

And as soon as he went out, Baker turned into the Baker of Old. He had five touchdowns. He had one in completion in the second half. What is the line in this game, Brooks? One sec. All right. This is live radio. No, let me see here. We've got... You guys look at it up. I'll talk about Baker. Las Vegas, they're two and a half point favorites? Or is Cleveland the favorite here?

Cleveland's got to be the favorite. Cleveland is the favorite. Two and a half point. Okay. So Baker Mayfield is going to be very interesting. 54 point over under in this game, by the way. Very interesting because we have seen Baker be very good. His rookie year and then the second half of last week. Like other than they've been winning this year, but Baker has been playing fine. They're winning kind of despite Baker.

But we have seen flashes of greatness from Baker Mayfield. It's going to be really interesting to see what happens when he doesn't have the weight of Odo Beckham on his shoulders, knowing that he could just throw to whoever is open. And Richard Higgins is a very capable wide receiver. Richard Higgins is fine in fantasy football. You want to play him this week? I'm open to that as a wide receiver 3. The Raiders are 20th against fantasy wide receivers. The matchup is fine. And Higgins is going to see.

volume. He saw a ton of volume last week when Baker Mayfield left the game. He ended up, you know, seeing 38% of the wide receiver targets. Yeah, I think this is the Cream Hunt game, though. Like if you didn't want to play Baker because the identity of the Browns is to win by running the football, they're going to run and they're going to be successful. Cream Hunt.

He is number two in football in terms of yards after contact, and the Raiders are dead last in football, giving up. Is that because like Henry's number one? Probably. I don't actually know who number one is. Cream Hunt's averaging three after contact. The Raiders are giving up three after contact, so that works. And they're going to lean on Cream Hunt in this game. Their identity, regardless of Beckham, has been to lean on Cream Hunt and Nick Chubb. So last week they had to

you know, continue battling with Joe Burrow, the back and forth touchdowns. Jason, where's your confidence with Baker? So this is the number one game of the week that changes to me based on weather. I think that both of these defenses are beatable, right? You can run on the Raiders. You can throw on the Browns. This could be a fantasy bonanza. But both of these quarterbacks are.

Let's just call them what they are. Their average mid-level quarterbacks. Their car has been playing well. Baker played well last week without Odell Beckham, and you could have a lot of fantasy gold here. But this is one of the three games this week that is currently projected for 25-mile-an-hour sustained wins with gusts up to 40 miles an hour. That's where the needle for fantasy does move, where they don't throw the ball as much, and they run the ball. And here's the issue.

both teams are going to be successful at running the ball. You just brought up all the cream hunt stats. So I loved Derek Carr at the beginning of the week. I liked Baker a lot, but right now I am weary of them. My original taking it up to 100 player was Henry Ruggs because the matchup is perfect, but you're not going to be able to throw a deep ball in 25 mile an hour wins if that's the case. So I would look at this as a fantasy feast.

but have pivot options on Sunday because we'll know a lot more on the weather then. And if the weather is what it's projecting to be, I would look at this game as a running attack from both teams. And while I would still like Jarvis, because I think he's just a great possession guy, they're still going to throw the ball and just won't be deep and downfield. That's basically how I'm looking at this matchup. And it makes it tough because I really like Derek Carr if the weather is okay. I like Nelson Aguilar a lot if the weather is okay.

And it's just too far for me to make the judgment call. You need to monitor it. If those winds are 10, 15 miles an hour, it's probably not going to affect this game. Both defenses are weak. And you could throw away some big-time fantasy performances if you run away from the weather. But again, it's tough. You just got to pay attention to it. And we get an article out with the weather reports much closer to game time.

And I'm sure on Sunday live when Mike is chatting. Yeah, we'll be talking with him. Yeah, you'll be able to have the up to the date. Austin Hooper is the tight end for the Cleveland Browns. He has likely out. He had his appendix removed. I can't imagine him playing football. It's wild because the timing of it. My father-in-law just had his appendix out like a month ago. Still not feeling great? Well, he's, no, he's good, but it's like it.

There is a body part that has been taken out, and there's just stitches holding it closed. How are you going to go take a defensive lineman running right into your ribs? It's a bad idea, is my point. I can't imagine that Austin Hooper is playing this week, which leads me to Harrison Bryant. I think if you are in a tight-end pinch, I think he is an absolutely fine streamer.

He came through with the big game last week. He did run ahead of Injoku. He was on the field for more snaps, ran more routes than him. So Harrison Bryant is a fine stream off of the wire. Injoku is another player that could get moved by November 3rd. He wants to be the number one somewhere. Like, I don't know, Arizona. I'd take it. Josh Jacobs, you know.

The running game, Jason talked about it. You're going to play Josh Jacobs. Darren Waller. You don't sit, Darren Waller. He is in every week's start. He is the Walleris. And so what else can you do? The Indianapolis Colts at 4 and 2 take on the Detroit Lions at 3 and 3. Colts are three-point favorites. It's a 50 point over under. And this one should be fun. This one should be interesting.