Week 9 Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, Red Dead Dickson

you know, an uptick from pre-D-T days, but it won't be this high. Yeah, I agree with that actually. In Herndon, you know, in Hirman, they're in the same category as Flyer tight-ins for me. But you're right. I mean, they're the best defensive line. They couldn't run against them. You know, Lindsay, who's averaging, you know, 5.7 a carry was only 3.7 in this game fighting through it. And then... Stupid Nick Venet. Nick Venet, six for 52 in a touchdown? We had a...

You're stealing all Ed Dixon's work, bro. Just real quick on the wide receiver fronts. Did we talk about Keenan Allen? No, but I should have. I was going to ask you, do you count this as a breakout when he didn't score? So six for 24, 10 tar? Six for one. 124, thank you. Six for 124. He had 10 targets. He was taking shots deep. Yeah, the touchdown didn't come through. But.

Is this the type of game that can jumpstart things for Keenan Allen, or is this just part of the ebbs and flows? I feel like it was a breakout. I mean, it was down the field routes that looked different to me. The targets high. I mean, this was just really a slight step up over what he's been doing. He has not been bad. He's just been feeling bad without touchdowns. But, yeah, I would say this was a great game. I don't know that it propels.

him to do more, but it just shows that this is... It's like a lawnmower, man. I mean, sometimes it takes a few pulls on the string, but then once the motor's going, it's going. It was last year for Keenan. And Rivers did throw two touchdowns, one to each of the Williams Bros. Well, they're bigger. Hey. That's not fair. If you got, if you got that Mike Williams touchdown, congratulations on your BS.

Because he stepped out at least three times. Oh, Mike was angry about that. Yeah, I mean. We're in it with you, Foot Clan, because Mike was facing Mike Williams. That's the only reason that visceral is there. I was furious because that was garbage. Okay. Rising Stars of the Week. Unless you owned him. Yeah, that's why I said. If you had him, congratulations on your fake touchdown. All right. My Rising Stars of the Week, I'm going two-pack. Because I make the rules. So it doesn't. There are no rules.

And it's Marquez Valdez Scanley, wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, and it is Aaron Jones running back for the Green Bay Packers. Now listen, Aaron Jones did not have the quote-unquote breakout game, but he has whittled the bars down to a thin string. And he is ready to break out. It is coming. If you know, look, Aaron Jones right now.

He's averaging more yards per carry than anybody in football. I was just going to throw out. I'm looking at his game log. His game, the lowest yards per attempt in a single game he's had this year was 5.13. Yeah, and here's the thing about, I want to speak to this, because your expectations need to be understood for both these guys. And Marquez, Valdez, Scanling, by far outside of Devante Adams is the most talented receiver they have. Two contested catches down the field. Just missed on a couple deep.

In fact, if he had thrown the ball correctly on the first deep target, it's like a 60-yard touchdown to Marquez. But here's what I saw in that game. And obviously, you know, Jason brings up Jamal Williams. You have a very Lindsay Booker situation here where there are packages, and you can see this. If you go back and watch the game, there are packages where both Marquez Valdez Scantling and Aaron Jones leave the field together. And you know who comes in? EQ, so Equanimia St. Brown.

Jamal Williams. So they have some sort of packages where they both leave the field and you get EQ some snaps and Jamal Williams some snaps. I'm not saying Williams is not valuable, but Aaron Jones missed a touchdown again by a couple of yards breaking it through the middle. And he is by far these are two talents they have to use if they want to win. Yeah, and it's really nice that the trade deadline has passed because, you know, the fumble that really changed everything in this game. He can't be stop. He can't be Thai Montgomery. He did fumble. You're dead on. That's correct.

I think I want fumbles plus 5.1 for a carry. Yeah, no. Look, over no fumbles and two a carry. I don't mind Aaron Jones, despite the fact that, you know, he fumbled. It was devastating for the Packers. He was benched after that. I don't mind him being a start of the week because if you look at the snap counts, you look at the carry distribution, his arrow is pointing up for sure. Most carries of the year, 14. Yeah. So I got no problem with that. I like it. I think he's going to get some targets, too.

Now, the time Montgomery is gone, you saw it a little bit last night. He was in those situations, got a couple of catches, but I think he's interesting. He also did whiff hard on a really important pass protection, but he is a great running back. You watch him with a critical, very critical eye. I think I do, yeah. So strange. But in fairness, I don't know why you would bring. Yeah, no, you do not. What did Jamal Williams do wrong last night? He was slow. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's, what play was that? All of them. Okay.

Yeah. My rising star. He does not get to celebrate. He does not get on the bandwagon with us. No. I'm kicking him in the face with my cowboy boot. He is not on. Usually. I don't even want on. He already tried to be on the past couple of weeks. I've said forever he's the best player. Nope. I don't want on. Yeah. I'm taking my ball. I'm going home. Whenever I'm on a bandwagon, all are always welcome. Always.

But not this time. No. Jason. Jason can let Jamal Williams carry him. You can hang out with Jamal Williams. Enjoy yourself. I will. We'll have a blast. Yeah. You guys are going to be. He runs like he has Jason on his back anyway. You're going to be in your little red wagon. We're in a Ferrari. That's right. Thanks, Mike. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Aaron Jones time. Can I ask a question? Sure. How many successful fantasy games has Aaron Jones had so far on this wagon? It's how many he ends. Oh, okay.

Okay, good. I was just curious. My rising star... I'm going to say three, though. I'm going to say three out of his six games. My rising star is O.J. Howard. And obviously, he's been doing great this season. The reason I'm making him my rising star is because I think the level up is complete, and I'm not afraid of the Ryan Fitzpatrick. You know, we've been talking about, okay, he's...

He's so much better when he's got Winston who hyper targets the tight ends. Ryan Fitzpatrick has a history of really throwing two wider receivers. And it is true. The game splits right now between Ryan Fitzpatrick and James Winston. They're better with Winston. But there's still over 11 points a game in PPR with Fitzmagic. He's scoring so much. He is the clear cut number one tight in. And he was drafted to be a gronk.

He was drafted to be one of the best type of tight ends in the league where you can run block. He's a 100% snap type of guy. Yeah, you can run block better than anybody. You can, you know, nobody can cover you because you can catch the ball. Nobody could tackle you because you're, you know. Jamal Williams size. Yeah, exactly. So I, you know, OJ Howard to me is a star in the making. If you have grabbed him up. What tight ends would you want over him right now?

Over him, obviously you'd take Kelsey Earts. Then I think I would probably. Kittle? Kittle is above him, but he's basically in about that same tier. I agree. Greg Olson, if he's healthy, but Greg also carries that risk, so he's a little bit lower. I think it's basically O.J. Howard 4. Yeah. I don't disagree. I don't have a lot of guys. I don't want over him.

I still think Gronk, if you can get back healthy, he's going to make an end of year impact. I completely forgot about that guy. Yeah. Gronk outsky. Yeah. Mike, who's your rising star? So my rising star, this one's not a burn burner. But at this point, you've got to get help wherever you can get it. I want to talk about Elijah McGuire running back for the New York Jets. Came off of the IR, was activated, immediately came in and played 54% of the snaps compared to Isaiah Crowell, who was, he's been their guy.

And it was a positive game script for Crowell, but Crowell was only on 34% of the snaps. The game went to Elijah McGuire. He only had the 10 touches, but he went right into the Bilal Powell role. And Blah Powell, in his time, he was just outside of the fringe of being a running back too. That's why he said, this isn't a barn burner. But this is a running back. You can pick up. You can play in the by weeks, which they're still going on. Yep. You can play them in the flex.

The fact that this game was close, and they went to McGuire so heavily. I was really, really hesitant about your endorsement of McGuire last week. I had to put two hands over my mouth not to object to it on the air, but I didn't because my hesitation was based around the injury, and I just wanted to listen to what you said because there was a chance.

He was healthier than we thought, and apparently he was. So kudos to you on that call. McGuire looks interesting. Right. He looks interesting. It is worth noting. It is worth noting next week against Buffalo, which, you know, Jordan Howard was fine, but Buffalo's defense has been okay, and then that follows up with a buy week. So it's not the best next two weeks. All right, let's get into the poopers. Poopped in his big boy pants. I'm sure our friends at fantasy champs wouldn't.

like their name being brought up right after pooped in the big boy pants. But that previous Rising Stars segment was brought to you by Fantasy Chance. You can get fantasy trophies, jerseys, rings, that type of stuff. Let's start here, because I've done some research here. Kirk Cousins, 18 for 22, for only 164 and 1. One pick in this game, played Detroit. Now, I'm facing Mike this next week, and Mike has been a Kirk Cousins starter all year long. Now, Kirk is on the buy. And I told Mike, I said,

I think this is a blessing in disguise for you. I looked into these numbers, okay? Kirk Cousins is the number three, going to this week, he's the number three fantasy quarterback on this season. In our league. In our league. Yes. Yes. It's small variance, but yes. The point is that he's been, his total numbers are very, very good. If you take, now you can't take, he gives you the chance of the 40-point game, right? He's played nine games. He's had two in the upper 40s in our league format.

If you remove those two games, his seven other games, he's averaging 20 fantasy points a game, which is good enough for 21st in our league format. So if you didn't get the two big ones, or if you got those, he's actually hurting you the remaining seven games. So it's a little bit of that. It's very Cam Newtony from every year except this one. Yeah, where it's a little surprising. And the thing about Cousins is you haven't been able to predict when this happens.

Yesterday was his worst game of the year, statistically, in terms of fantasy production. And it came against Detroit. Yeah. You know, a game that you thought was going to be okay. Now you didn't have Stefan Diggs. And they also didn't really need their offense. This is true. But I think that for the way, the way I saw the game unfold, and I'm not arguing with you about Kirk Cousins has been very mediocre, except for those two games where he inflated his numbers. But if watching the game.

Detroit could do nothing. But this was the problem with Kirk Cousins before the season. Yeah, this was the objection. You never say, Pat, I mean, how many times have the Chiefs needed their offense this year? Every time. Well, the point is, even when they're up by 100, we don't make the excuse. Pat Mahomes still put some numbers, right? So they've won more games by a wider margin than just about anybody in football. But the strategic, you know, situation between Zimmer.

And Andy Reed gives a higher variance to Kirk Cousins' fantasy output. Yes. And so they can get on top early, and they can soak up some more clock in Minnesota where it still seems to be high-flying fun for Kansas City. And obviously the Minnesota defense is much better than Kansas City. But I'm just, it doesn't mean any, you're not dropping Kirk Cousins. Right. I wouldn't play them on the buy. Yeah, I'm solid.

But he would have similar production to this past week. No, I agree. We talked about this before the season, and we looked back at Case Keenham when he had a great year. He had so many good games, but the games he didn't have good games weren't because it was because the team won, and they won on defense, and he'd throw the ball 20 times. Well, Kirk Cusses threw the ball 22 times, and, you know, unless you're having those crazy, hyper-efficient Deshaun Watson touchdown games, that...

volume is not going to get it done. And you're going to have more of these with Kirk Cousins. I think you need to downgrade him to a matchup play. You need to play him against another team that you're confident could score on the Vikings. And keep in mind, the Vikings defense, it's starting to shape up. Yeah, it's getting better. Their defense did not look great to start the year. But right now, and especially coming off the buy, when Xavier Rhodes would be a little bit healthier, you know, I think their defense is looking scary.

Wasn't a huge fan of Mitch Tribisky this week. He had a bad gain, 12 for 20, for 135 and 1. Again, the defense scored twice. It disrupts everything when that happens. Time of possession, opportunities to score and the need to score. Matthew Stafford sacked 10 times. Every single time, they were in the red zone, and he would drive back to pass. He felt like he was getting sacked. It seemed like...