Week 13 Matchups + Tilt Talk, Pigeon Theft! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/4

He's the tight-in four on the year. Case closed, that's enough. New England Patriots 5 and 6, taking on the Los Angeles Chargers at 3 and 8. Patriots are one-point road favorites in this one. That's how the Chargers like to lose. By one point. Yes. At home. 47.5 point over under. Drastic difference in pace of play between these two teams. New England is, New England opponents are averaging fewest plays per game.

while the chargers are the fastest team in terms of most plays per game. So something's got to give there. This is not the matchup where I'm extremely, I don't think Herbert's going to have a huge game here. Bill Belichick against rookie quarterbacks, 19 and 5 historically. If there's a coach that knows how to kind of just unlock a few things to make a rookie uncomfortable and disrupt them and at least mess the rhythm up for a quarter or two, it's Bill Belichick.

Yeah, generally speaking, I would agree with that. The hard part here for Bill Belichick is that Justin Herbert has two elite pass-catching weapons. That's not even factoring in Mike Williams or Unter Henry. Like, Keenan Allen is elite. Go ahead. Cover up Keenan Allen. You're going to see 15 targets go to awesome Echler.

And you won't be able to stop. You can't stop both of them. I genuinely thought you were going to say he has two elite weapons, and that's not even factoring in Austin Echler. Oh, no. I think Mike Williams is elite. Oh, we've gone to elite now. I mean, I've always thought he's elite. As far as talent, not necessarily an elite fantasy option weekend and week out. Okay. But he is extremely talented. You know, he's a top 10 NFL draft pick. And all he's done.

in the NFL is exactly what he's been asked to do. You know, he's never been made the one. They should ask him to score a bunch of fantasy points. They should ask him to land softly on the ground so that he can stay healthy. You try to land softly from 25 feet. That's true. Yeah, at that size. But yeah, to your point, Mike, you're saying that the weapons may overwhelm the history of this defense, but.

I don't think so. I'm trying to find somebody else. I'm inclined to agree. I don't think it's going to be a great game for Justin Herbert or Keenan Allen. Me one shoe's on the ground from last week. And the other shoe could drop this week. You could have two shoes dropped. That was a shoe? That was a shoe. That was a shoe. Quarterback 14. Yeah. He threw for over 300 yards. Yeah. Anybody could throw for over 300 yards. It's only one shoe, Mike.

Well, you guys, that's a tough critic over there. Well, I mean, when does the shoe drop for you? You have to be outside of the top 20. Okay. All right. Maybe this week. We'll see. So what do you do with Keenan Allen? You play him. You obviously play him, but it's a little bit of a DeAndre Hopkins situation in the sense that you're getting Gilmore. I think Gilmore will shadow, even in the slot on Keenan Allen. They try to take away your number one target. Now, Herbert.

It doesn't matter. Herbert will force him the ball. We've seen that enough already this year. If Keenan Allen has a defender that he's wearing as a backpack, that ball will still be coming his way. The shoe really dropped on Keenan Allen last week. Finished 18th at the position. Like I said, tough, tough crowd. Tough crowd. Yeah, you play him. Mike Williams is my start of the week. I think he ends up with a touchdown in this game. Hunter Henry. He's a playable every week tied in. Echler, yep. And then.

Make your decision on Herbert based on the other options that you have. I don't think he's a guaranteed must bench by any stretch of the imagination. The hard part at this point of the year, if you've been rolling with Justin Herbert and you're looking for another option, you might be streaming. So that's like, are you playing Fitzpatrick? We don't even know if Ryan Fitzpatrick is starting. So I wouldn't even. Lamar Jackson. Is Lamar Jackson playing this week?

You tell me, Mike. I don't know. You tell me. All right. Let's say he is against Dallas. You play Lamar or Justin Herbert? I would play Lamar. Big Ben against Washington or Justin Herbert. Justin Herbert. Would you play Kurt Cousins this week against Jacksonville or Justin Herbert? Austin Eckler just, he does give so many free points to the quarterback position. Maybe you've swayed me to thinking of Herbert this week as a above average option.

Yeah, he's still a top 12 guy. Yeah, I think he is. His upside is limited. He's putting the shoe back on. His big. The laces are pretty loose, and that's fine. If you want to say, well, I got him in my QB 10. They really slowed Kyler down last week, too, in the passing game. So I think it's a little bit of the New England defensive lore. That's the question to me. Kyler or Herbert? This week? Yeah.

Because Kyler. Yeah, I would play Kyler. You doing all right over there? I am. My throat is struggling, but I'm back. Okay. Let's talk about the New England side. Are you, it's a tough, it's a tough side to talk about each and every week. What are you doing with the wide receivers? Nothing. Not playing them. What are you doing with this guy? I'm not playing him. Oh, man.

Here is something that I need to say. Right now in my quarterback rankings, I have Mitchell Trubisky ranked ahead of Cam Newton for fantasy football. Oof. Yeah. So that's where I am with Cam Newton this week. Well, much like Zachard, sometimes you just have to call a spay to spay. You have to move forward. The Chargers, the last six weeks have been great against fantasy quarterbacks. They've been elite against fantasy wide receivers.

all year long. You can beat them on the ground. Damien Harris is in play here. Damien Harris is a good running back. It is his job as the grinder. The upside is not there because they keep going to guys like Rex Birkin and James White when they get into the red zone. But I think that James White is, or Damien Harris is a fine running back to play. I think I agree with you on that one. Sonny Michelle got 2% of snaps last week. Did not get a touch. So.

Moving forward, Denver Broncos. Four and seven, Kansas City Chiefs, 10 and 1. Chiefs are 13.5 point favorites. It's a 15.5 point over under. Last time these two played, it was a snow game. Kansas City won 43-17. I think it was run heavy. I think it was technically Mahomes' worst game of the year in the snow. Mahomes has been incredible. He's been... He's no Santa Claus. He can't handle the snow. Actually, he generally... I think his numbers actually show he can. Well, this year he can't. And there was an outlier.

But that side of the ball is a lot easier. Mahomes is in and Kelsey always. What do you do with the split? The Lev Bell, Clyde Edwards-Aler, I'll admit I added Lev Bell in a league this week because if these snap counts continue to go up, he is a spot start situation where you can just hope for a touchdown. Well, he was on my priority list as well. I wouldn't see him as a spot start, though.

I would see him more as insurance in case Clyde Edwards Laird got injured. You know, Lev Bell's been dropped in, I would say, the majority of active leagues. Lev Bell has never seen more than nine opportunities since joining the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah, it would take an injury. But he is one of those guys that, you know, this is the time of year where those insurance options.

should be rostered and they can help win a championship. So I would pick them up, but I would not be starting. Clyde did not practice this week due to an illness. So I assume he'll be out there, but that's something to monitor. Insurance, as Jason said, but also just if that snap count gets up higher, you still have your, you know, you still got a shot at a game. Outside, Tyreek, yep, what do you do with McCall Hardman, Sammy Watkins, DeMarcus Robinson?

Unnecessary. Unnecessary. They're not needed. Doesn't seem like it. Certainly can't count on one over the other. It doesn't seem like. Noah Phant Mike started the week on the other side of the ball. Okay. Tight-in position. Yep. Jerry Judy's been limited again this week. Jerry Judy is, he should be dropped.

I don't think Jerry Judy. Wow. I mean, look, Drew Locke. No, I'm sad for you. I agree. I agree, though. I am sad for myself. I love Jerry Judy. I think Jerry Judy is extremely talented and will have a great career. It's not going to happen this year. It's not going to happen with Drew Locke. The upcoming playoff schedule is a little bit difficult. And Drew Locke, here's something Mike Taglier pointed out. Locke has registered a bad throw on 29% of his attempts. By far the highest in the NFL.

For context, Carson Wins, which when you watch, like every single one looks like a bad throw, is it 22%. Now, he also throws a good ball. He's just inconsistent, so he can get the ball, you know, to players from time to time. But I, Jerry Judy has had one great game this whole year. Yeah, I don't believe in Drew Locke. And by extension, you can't believe in the past catchers around him. Yeah, it's tough. Including, you know.

all of our hopes and dreams for Judy or even Noah, I think it's why he's been so inconsistent. And at the running back position, Melvin Gordon, you can play him. I mean, the Kansas City defense is average against fantasy running backs. Now, the dream of having that backfield to yourself, where Melvin Gordon really can shine because he'll just get 20 plus opportunities.

That might be out the window, as Philip Lindsay did return to practice on a limited basis, but the beat reporters were saying he looks just fine coming off of his knee injury. So Melvin Gordon will not, it's not likely he's getting that upgrade this week. All right, two Monday night football games, and yes, there's Tuesday night football this week. The first Monday night game, Washington at 4 and 7 taking on the Steelers who are undefeated at 11 and 0. Steelers 8.5 point favorites. It's a 42 point over under.

You know, the hardest part with, you know, you look at the Steelers there at 11 or no, you can start think about the undefeated season. It's always hard to kind of paint the picture of how they lose a ball game. Now, the Baltimore game was much closer than I thought it would be for a long time, so we know it can happen. But I don't think it happens against Washington this week. They're eight and a half point favorites. This is two of the better defensive fronts in the NFL, making some decisions more difficult for running backs.

And so let's start there. Antonio Gibson has been on fire. We actually talked about him a lot during our Series XM show yesterday afternoon. He's been outstanding. He's been the RB3 over the last three weeks, the RB4 over the last six weeks, or eight weeks, I'm sorry. But here's the matchups. Dallas, the Giants, Detroit, Cincinnati, Dallas. Those are the last five weeks when he's been inside. I like those matchups better.

Yeah, and here's Pittsburgh, who generally shuts everybody down outside of a Miles Sanders' 74-yard run. I think that it is the intelligent thing to do to make sure that you're playing the best matchup here and not just locking Gibson in. If you have David Montgomery this week against the league worst Detroit defense, I'd be playing him over Antonio Gibson against Pittsburgh. As one of the founding fathers of Antonio Gibbs season fan club.

I would play David Montgomery if I had that option. Antonio Gibson is not a must bench. We saw him have success against Baltimore early on in the season, an extremely difficult matchup. But, Andy, you're right, of Miles Sanders had a 74-yard touchdown run and finished that day with 11 carries for 80 yards. Yeah. We saw Sequin Barkley have double-digit carries and finished, I think, with like, six rushing yards.

Back in week. Remember we got sick when Barclay was playing this year. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Remember that guy? They're not going to be able to control the line of scrimmage. They're not going to be able to play from a lead in this game. And that does, you know, well, it'll be interesting to see how many third down snaps J.D. McKiss it gets versus Gibson in this game if they're coming back. Yeah. Oh, he was on the on the ready for, give me a kiss. Goodness. Scared all of us.

You know, I was going to say, you've picked your spots, Al, a couple times this week. You had the kind of sad Alvin Camara. Oh, man. That one was frightening. It felt like a mistake. What do you have to say for yourself? I'm pretty proud of it. Oh, my gosh. I like it. I'm proud of you. Smooches, hit it again. Oh, my God. It's so loud and abrupt. It is very. Just give me a cow.

Well, the nice thing is that it came right in the middle of words. So that was really, really helpful. You picked a pretty bad time to talk right there. Oh, my God. One more time. I thought some kind of frequency had taken over our show. Oh, I did too. The radio has come to shut us down. I'm mad at the podcasters. I knew it was on purpose once I glanced over and he wasn't freaking out. He was just like, no, that was plotted. That was planned. You like that?