Trust Issues + Ride or Die, TNF Breakdown - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/19

Don't break it and, you know, don't fix it until it's broken. Get your Ws while your quarterback gets healthy, and it played out very well for the Cowboys. I know they obviously lost their last game, but that just gave more time for Dak to come back, and now he's coming back to a winning team that looks to be in a great position, and he got to heal up. They're playing Chicago on Monday night. They are favored by eight. I mean, this game. How many sacks does Justin Fields take in this game? I'm going to start the line at three and a half. I'll take the over. I'll take the over. Okay. But my point was going to be. That might just be Michael Parsons by himself. This feels, no, no, the Patriots, not the Cowboys. Oh, I thought you said that got you. No, no. We're back, sorry. I switched back to Zappi of this feels like a game the Patriots can win with defense and just run the ball every single snap and you can.

Probably still win. All right, real quick here. Taylor Heineke will start against the Packers for the commanders. Honestly, I don't think that's, I think it's better news for Terry McLaren in particular because Heineke is willing to Chuck WTC. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. It's an interesting move here by the Manders of where was Sam Howell drafted third round? Am I remembering that right? He could get time. I mean, he could get an opportunity. But what's interesting of this team, you know. Yeah, I guess it's the coaching staff saying we are, we're still in, we're still trying to win despite, you know, being in a division of teams that are having great success. But to go, or Howell was a fifth runner, thank you, to go to Heineke when he was the guy that you, you already had, and you could have kept rolling with him, but you invested heavily in Carson Wentz because Heineke wasn't good enough. And then not seeing what Sam Howell could do in a year where it feels lost already.

So it's an interesting situation. And then what was this report about Matt Eberfluse? They're just saying that they're going to ride the hot hand at the running back position, speaking to David Montgomery, Khalil Herbert. I mean, David Montgomery, more likely to get the hot hand, the snaps and everything have been in his favor. But it may be. It's not something you want to hear. Yeah, it's definitely not something you want to hear if Montgomery's on your team. But if Montgomery's not on your team, and you're trying to trade for him, this is exactly what I'm trying to make my opponent see. And Deshaun Jackson's back. Yeah. To the practice squad for the Ravens. All right. Rashad Bateman also, the foot injury, they're expecting him back this week, but we need to monitor practice reports. Because if he doesn't practice, we could go another week of thinking he's going to play. Did you see his tweet about 40 minutes after the signing? We don't know. We don't know what it, you know, it's a little, it was just. Who's tweet? Rashad Bateman tweeted LOL.

about 40 minutes after they signed Deshawn Jackson. Could be unrelated. Maybe he heard a funny joke. Wait, wait, wait. That's the whole, there's no quote tweet. It's just LOL. He just tweeted LOL. That was it. Which, again, funny joke that in tweet out LOL. But that's really weird. Yeah. I mean, I think that there's worry. I mean, we always see this when transactions happen. It usually is a bad indicator of the health of the other players at the position. All right, that was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Take a quick break and get back with the Thursday night preview. All right, we have a Thursday night football game. We get the privilege of talking about. And I'll have to catch you up on Mike's Tassam Hill Adventure. Thursday night breakdown. The New Orleans Saints at 2 and 4 take on the 2 and 4 Arizona Cardinals.

The Draft King Sportsbook line is Arizona minus two. The over under is 44. The Cardinals haven't won a game at home in a century. Almost a full year. So Arizona is favored here at home. There are injuries on the Norland side of the football. There have been all year. And even without them at the quarterback position, it's been rough, right? James Winston, not a great start to the year. Unless you like... what he does for Chris Olava, which is to just, he's much more willing to throw the ball as far as he can down the sideline. There are many who prefer that. I agree. One in 12. Yeah, if you have Chris Oliva, I prefer that for sure. But the team has seemed better with Dalton on the field. Very close game last week. They lost it in the end, but it's going to be interesting to see what they do with Winston and Dalton rest of season. I could see them ping ponging between them based on

Just how they're playing. Mike gets the privilege of playing against Taysam Hill again this week because I traded him to the team playing Mike. Yes, it will be. We'll give it another try. It's interesting. Taysam Hill, just the overall tight end play against the Cardinals because they are 31st currently against fantasy tight ends. But he's not a tight end. Tassum is not a traditional tight end, at least, you know, the way that he plays on the football, the way that he's scoring fantasy football points. Hooray, I get to play against Taysom Hill again. I mean, that's, it's the lottery wheel of all or nothing. I think I would, I'm fine with it. Is this a trap game for the wide receiver core, or should I say, Chris Olave for the Saints? The Cardinals are fourth in schedule adjusted points given up to wide receivers, sixth and total points given up. Byron Murphy has been a shutdown corner against the number one, and there aren't.

Other options. Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, I don't expect them to be out there on Thursday. Have you guys heard anything else? No, it doesn't seem that they're going to be. That's my expectation is that they won't be when they had the kind of walk through. They put on DMPs on their projected outlook. So given that this is a Thursday night football game, I think the Cardinals are going to be not too worried about the Treyquan Smiths of the world. Marquois Calloway. Yeah, you know, this is a shutdown Chris Olive. try to shut down Alvin Camara and Taysam Hill situation. We talked in the beginning of this episode, how injured the Saints team is. You know, the betting money has gone towards the Arizona Cardinals here, even though they are dealing with their own injury with Hollywood Brown. They're getting Hopkins back. I think this could be a trap for Chris Olape. Interesting. The Deep League only, but I...

I honestly do believe. I think Juan Johnson, their tight end, is a deep, sneaky play this week. Adam Troutman, their other pass-catching tight end was starting to kind of rise up in snaps and routes and everything. Had a really strange, he was in motion pre-snap and just went down. Now, it would turn out to be an ankle, came back in the game, but he's also getting the do not practice tag. And with... The Cardinals, the way that they're playing against tight ends right now, like last week after, you know, Troutman banged up, four for 41, which you're not, you know, you're not writing home about, oh, I got four for 41 out of my tight end, but I think that that's the kind of floor that you're looking at. Yeah, maybe a DFS play because if you look at who the Cardinals have played, they have, you know, they gave up 11.3 fantasy points to the tight end position last week against Seattle.

in a game where Seattle didn't even score much. The week prior, Dallas Goddard destroyed them. They started off the season, obviously, with the big Travis Kelsey game, the Darren Waller game, Higby. Everyone they've played against has done well at the tight-in position. And obviously, Taysam Hill, you said it earlier. He does not play tight-out. You can't look at his tight-in matchup. You've got to look more like, how does this team guard running backs? Well, yeah, and they didn't have the goal-line opportunities for him last week that they had. in the previous week. I think Taysam Hill is, you know, he's the dart throw that he's been. You have a shot at a big game. They don't have Thomas and Landry. Camara, 29 and 28 opportunities the last two weeks, no touchdowns. And we don't have any declaration on who the starting quarterback is yet. Yeah, but Camara is back. I mean, the opportunity is skyrocketing, his efficiency, he's looked good on the field. And the targets are still there. Kyla Murray.

Well, Hopkins is back. Robbie. Robbie Anderson. I think the new Call of Duty comes out this week. Oh, gosh. I got to move them down. Those come out like every week. Modern Warfare, too. Is this a real thing? Yeah. Oh, crap. Yeah. Kyler right now is my... Is in line at Walmart? He's... He's got a guy that he gives him an advanced copy. Kyler right now is my quarterback 8th. I would start Tom Brady over him. Oh, breaking news. It's November 10th. We're all right. Oh, we're all right. Oh, thank goodness. I'm moving them up. Were you just checking to see if it was actually November 10th? Yeah. On your watch? No, I was, no, not to see if it was November 10th, but what day it was. Gotcha. Then I remember we're in October. Kyler had the second lowest fantasy points over the last 15 years for a quarterback with 100 plus rushing yards last week.

Yeah, it was putrid. And the Saints' strength is their defense. This is going to be, I think, another disappointing primetime game. They have been bad against wide receivers, though, really bad. Schedule adjusted, included, basically the worst in the league. So, you know, the big question here, people have been holding on to Hopkins waiting. He's right in. Yeah, just, that's, I completely agree. Hopkins is someone that should just be played over almost. I would say most every option out there. I would play him over Cortland Sutton, who's been good. Over Olavee in the same matchup. Over Olave, absolutely. Over Tyler Lockett, who's been good, but had that weird hamstring pop up on Thursday and then disappeared this last week. Hopkins is pretty much a top 10 wide receiver. Rondale more? Yeah, I mean, it's flex-worthy? Absolutely. Wondale or Rondale? Rondale.

Look, Wondale is... Wondale is... Nice. Did you malfunction? Yeah. Wondale is very... Give him oil. He needs oil. Very exciting. But he was still barely on the field. We need some time before Wondale, or before you can have the confidence that Wondale is a 70 plus percent snap play. Ron Dale or Brandon Cooks against the Las Vegas Raiders? Brandon Cooks. Brandon Cooks. Okay. Zach Hertz? Start him. Yep. Eno Benjamin. Okay, that's a fair discussion. Connor and Darrell Williams didn't practice. Eno should be the primary back in this matchup, but the Saints have been top third against running back. Yeah, the, you know, the last week against the Seahawks, Eno not performing, and now against the Saints, it is a scary proposition. Let me throw out some names for you here. Eno Benjamin against the Saints or?

Tony Pollard against the Detroit Lions. That's funny. They're very close. I'll play Eno. They're very close in my rankings. I'm going to go Pollard there for the Lions massacre that's going to happen. Eno Benjamin or the now what feels like a scary start, Jeff Wilson against the Kansas City Chiefs. I'll try Wilson on for size. Yeah. What about Brian Robinson Jr. or Eno? I've got Brian Robinson two spots ahead. Here's the name that is the biggest question for me. Kenyon Drake, great matchup against Cleveland or Eno Benjamin? I would go Eno. I have Eno one spot ahead right now. Of course, unless there's some weird news throughout the week. Ranking starts it, tool, all the resources, the strength of schedule with schedule adjusted, available on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. Let's do some mailbag. Mailbag. Mailbag.

Oh boy, we got to watch the Cardinals on Thursday night, prime time, Mike. Yeah. Boy, I wonder, you know, I know. All will suffer. People have wanted us to do another live Thursday night. And we, I'm sure we will at some point. But man, can you imagine this week? No. The wrath that we would. Yeah. We would be getting some stuff out in the world. Because we already are. It would be a therapy session on Thursday night. That's what it's going to be. whether it's broadcast or not. We're just going to be watching this TV yelling. We're going to get tagged so much on Thursday. Oh, man. Yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready. Is there anything the Cardinals could do on Thursday to change the story? No, because they can't. Like if they won 35 to 3. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, if they come out and dominate, if they come out and look like the high powered offense with DeAndre Hopkins and they put up 30 points, then yeah, the narrative will start changing. I'm saying they cannot.

do that they are not capable what if they but what did they do because they were a top offense last year with hopkins what if they do that is that an indictment on everybody because hopkins fixes every problem immediately like it will be a hundred percent attributed to dionre hopkins return if they succeed yeah that's correct so is it like you know what does that mean because he's he there were seven and no last year before hopkins went down Yeah, they've lost a lot of important pieces from that time. You know, they had one of the best pass rushers in the league last year when they were going 7 and 0. So to me, the Arizona Cardinals offensive line is a massive problem. They just lost Pew. Hudson didn't play the past two weeks. Yeah. So Kyler, when he does not have protection, has just been.

awful. Any throws down the field have been worthless throwaways. So we'll see what Hopkins can do. I do think Hopkins comes into this game and gets well north of 10 targets. This is going to be a snap the ball throw to Hopkins type of offense because the defense has a great pass rush. They're going to be in Kyler's face all day long. Yeah, I like that the Cardinal started last week trying to run Kyler. I mean, he ran for 100 yards. That has been a recipe for. success. I think they're like 23 and 8 when he runs more than a certain amount of times. Six plus times. So, you know, it'll be interesting to watch. I think players, there are quarterbacks in this weird tier of they aren't what we thought they were right now. Russ has been dropped. Oh, yeah. Kyler, not what we thought he was. Herbert, not what we thought he was so far. He's about to be.

Herbert? Herbert is a Keenan Allen problem. That's my true belief. I think Keenan Allen coming back this week, Herbert's going to be fine. So Kyler is a Hopkins problem. Well, but he, sure, except for the fact that he then lost Hollywood. The expectation coming into this year was he's going to get. He's going to get Robbie. I don't think that's a huge upgrade. We'll see. You don't think Hopkins is a huge upgrade? I don't think Robbie Anderson is a huge upgrade after losing Hollywood Brown. All right. Okay. Well, Thursday night's going to be fun. Also, something to monitor for Kyler. He is currently on pace now, thanks to that 100-yard game. He is on pace for 660 rushing yards. I will remind everyone, 650 rushing yards, I believe is the marker for his season total in his contract where he gets like another million dollars if he rushes for 650 plus rushing. So when we get towards the end of the year, you know.

Just something to monitor. Too about they didn't write gaining a first down on the rush as a little bonus. Maybe you get some in-game currency. All right, voicemail question. Bonjour, Ballers, from this Atlanta-based Canadian. What are your thoughts on the reason for the dip in fantasy scoring this year? I think it'll continue and does it alter your strategy. Thanks what you do, guys. So a question about the defense, why are points down? Part of it is red zone struggles. Teams are getting in the red zone and you think these drives are going to be finished and they're not. Yeah, and just the defenses figuring things out. I mean, look at what happened to, you know, like the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills to a point. It happened to them last year, if you recall. There was this stretch where people are willing to try different defenses and then they are very successful.

against certain quarterbacks and certain schemes. You're like, oh, we should be more willing to be flexible about what kind of system that we're actually running. I also think it's, I don't think it's league wide necessarily. I think it's hyper-targeted at some of these great offenses who are bad specific to quarterbacks. You've got Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady, who usually put up so many points every week who are not scoring, you know, barely getting touchdowns. Russell Wilson. I mean, he's never seen a touchdown. And then the Arizona Cardinals have gone from a high-powered offense too. So you've got to look specifically at those situations. Yeah, losing DAC and say, will Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, will they get it together offensively and throw Kyler in that mix? I will not throw Russ. Russ will not get it together. And I, and I tend to trust those quarterbacks. So I'm going to say that the points will come back around.

Hey, ballers. Just had a quick question for you. Is it safe to drop Kenny Gallaudet from my dynasty roster? I'm holding out hope, but I think it's all lost. Thanks. Have a good. We'll love the show. Can you drop Kenny Galaday in your roster? Redraft, of course. But Dynasty, it's just, it's such a hard thing. In Dynasty, you're deciding between keeping Kenny Galladay in your roster. or signing Marquess Calloway. Right. You know, would you rather have Marvin Jones or Kenny Gallaudet? Marvin Jones. Yeah, one of them can score fantasy points. Kenny Galladay's career is over. Kenny Galladay's career is basically over. Now, he's 28 years old right now. He has a contract that is so bloated. He can't be traded for, and if they cut him, they're going to have so much dead cap. I still think they might just.

swallow that and say, you know, I mean, we've seen it with a couple of teams. The Rams say, you know, I'll cut you, Todd Gurley, even though you've got 20 plus million in dead cap. That might happen to Kenny Galladay, and in that situation, maybe he's signed by another team and given an opportunity, but I don't think he will succeed with that opportunity. So to me, he's a player that you're probably going to, there's, you know, there's probably not someone on your waivers right now that you really need to pick up. if there is, if, you know, Kenyon Drake was out there, Latavis Murray was out there and you're like, oh, should I drop Kenny Galladay? Absolutely. If there's a player on waivers in Dynasty, otherwise you'll probably be dropping them when you draft rookies next year. Yeah, he stinks. Yeah. And when you're like, hey, give me an opportunity. I think it's going up against Richie James and David Sills. I think that's the opportunity that he should be able to take advantage of. So he is, he's gone away. And, um,

Instagram question from Joe Lynn 84. Can we trust Alan Robinson now? No. Five for 63 in a touchdown last week. Trust him, no. You're on the by week here for the Rams. I do believe part of Alan Robinson's success last week was the Higby injury and Higby, I mean, really, really being held in as a blocker this past week. Hopefully, I'm hoping that Alan Robinson is trustworthy. But after just one game, no. Yeah, the tough part about Higby and why I struggled to believe the early part of the year was Higby's never the plant. Higby is the break glass. You know, they don't go into the game wanting to have to dump off and have him running wild. And they want these receivers to do something. And whether it's O'Dell Beckham, who, you know, the reports have said that they have not made their final offer to him.

or somebody else, like, they want to get a wide receiver going here. Yeah, if you look at, you know, his routes run, his snap percentage, even his targets, nothing has really changed that much for him. He's been on the field. He's been doing this every game. And his targets going back to week two is 5, 5, 6, 5, 6. That was this last week. He's been getting the same amount of targets, just hasn't been connecting. So there is a touchdown gamble. That's what you're trying for. Yeah. Which is going to be the fate. And just to be clear, they'll run a fade on the goal line. If he catches it, you didn't have a horrible week. And if he doesn't, you probably had a horrible week. Yeah, they're on by. So maybe they work something out. Maybe they go, okay, this is time where we can figure out how to utilize the skill set that he has. So, you know, he's not, he's not dead. But he's certainly not someone that I think we could just flat out rely upon yet. It was at least nice to see if you need to fill in a by week in coming weeks. And you can pray.

that it works out trust issues from the foot clan today instagram question can i trust jeff wilson junior yeah so like the plan against the kansas city if that was the answer to can i trust this bridge that i'm walking across how would i feel about that first step mike uh not great i mean if we're referring to infrastructure here then yeah that i would want more of a yes but The plan against the Kansas City Chiefs for the 4-A-N-Ras has to be hold the ball and defense because you can't get into it. You can't get Jimmy Garapolo into a shootout with Patrick Mahomes. So the plan will still be to go to Jeff Wilson. Can they execute on the plan? That's the question. Yeah, I mean, you expect them to get down to the Kansas City Chiefs, though, and all great plans. Expect, but they may not.

No, for sure. I mean, obviously, last week we expected them to be up on Atlanta, and the NFL's been crazy this year with underdogs showing up strong. This week, it's going to be in San Francisco. I feel like you could still start Jeff Wilson because he is the clear first guy. Last week, they abandoned the run because they were down two scores to Atlanta, and they tried to pass their way back in the game. You could see that happen again. That's why Jeff Wilson is someone that... I think is more of a flex option this week. But I would, you know, we're talking about the Eno Benjamin's. I would start Jeff Wilson over, over that caliber running back. Instagram question. Will Russell, or I'm sorry, will Rashad Bateman be the hero we need? Not this week. Not this week. But it is certainly possible. You open up the strength of schedule. You go adjust by, you know, you go schedule adjusted. Number two.

The second softest schedule for fantasy wide receivers through the remainder of the season is the Baltimore Ravens. So if he has healthy and he comes back, I do think he can be that guy. John Harbaugh two days ago said he was optimistic about him returning this week. Specifically, he said when asked, he said he's close. He's really close. And I know I say that every week. But I mean it, he is really, really close. So he could come back this week and hopefully they are utilizing the time to get him fully healthy, not rush him back because they need him. Over the course of the season, I think Rashad Bateman will be the hero we need. He looked great. Here's a fun statoid. He has missed the last two and a half games of their six on the season. So not half the season yet, but almost.

He is number two in receiving yards on this team. Yeah, that makes sense. They need him. And we're about halfway through. So this, honestly, this is where I'm starting to take a little peek at the playoffs. Stuff can certainly have a massive change between now and then. But 15, 16, 17, the Baltimore Ravens will play the Cleveland Browns, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. All right. A couple of reminders for you out there. Spotify Live will be it. In the party room today. Yeah, yeah, join us. 3 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Eastern. And then tomorrow we'll be getting into the matchups, the starts of the week, the boom boom kicker, the never not working. Big show tomorrow. Make sure you join us. Until then, I bid you farewell. You beautiful people. Yes. You're looking good, everybody. Have a fantastic day. We'll see you tomorrow. Careful with that tea, Mike. I will. See you on the party room tonight. Goodbye.

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