THE UNOFFICIALFOOTBALLERSFAN ARCHIVE↗Transcript links use the exact YouTube video’s clock. Machine transcripts can contain errors.
Andy and Jason seek Mr. Rogers cardigan calm while Al's projection anxiety continues in Deucer's Alley; scattered Thursday and Saturday games are described as micro-doses of football points and matching doses of blood-pressure medication.
Asked to perform a Deucer's Alley combo mailbag, Matt screams into the microphone so loudly the hosts call it a car wreck and freight-train impact, say they can see sound, compare it to smelling salts, and plan to repair the audience mix or mute him. Papa Josh and Al disown the failure, and the close thanks everyone but the Falcon.
The hosts call pre-congratulation a common follower strategy opposite to trash talk: buy the opponent pizza, perhaps spell CONGRATS in olives or send a heart-shaped pie. Sending Brooks a pizza preceded a win over him, while forgetting Al's pizza preceded an 80-point loss and an on-air apology. The discussion itself makes the Falcon request pizza for lunch.
A waiver notification visibly derails Andy's answer. The hosts immediately report that Al played defense by grabbing Madison, Andy landed Jalen McMillan and Brenton Strange, and Kyle and Mike's League of Record team had already been eliminated for months.
Andy asks eliminated League of Record manager Kyle to settle Brenton Strange versus Cade Otton, but the hosts immediately call Kyle in love with Otton and identify him as an Otton truther whose answer is always Otton.
Andy and Jason host without Mike and open semifinal week by contrasting Mr. Rogers cardigan calm with Al Borland's continuing anxiety. The scattered Thursday and Saturday games become 'micro-dosing the football,' delivering small point totals and repeated doses of blood-pressure medicine across the weekend. The signature crew event arrives when the hosts request a Deucer's Alley combo mailbag drop. Matt screams into the microphone at freight-train volume; the desk calls it a car wreck, says it can see sound, compares it favorably to smelling salts, threatens to mute Matt, and assures listeners that the released mix will be repaired. Papa Josh and Al refuse to be lumped in with the failure, and the close thanks the Deucers minus the Falcon. A listener then invokes the show's pre-congratulation strategy: buy a playoff opponent pizza and shower them with kindness before trash talking after victory. The hosts recall that sending Brooks a pizza preceded beating him, while failing to send Al one preceded an 80-point loss; the prolonged discussion prompts the Falcon to request pizza for company lunch. Near the close, waivers process live, visibly distracting Andy. Al grabs Madison defensively, Andy lands Jalen McMillan and Brenton Strange, and Kyle—whose League of Record team with Mike has long been eliminated—is asked to arbitrate Strange versus Cade Otton before being exposed as an Otton truther.
They will see through that fakeness to Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, Andy Reed. They will lay down the law and they will hold you accountable. They will make sure that if you're doing something wrong, it is pointed out, but they're not just going to be tough guys to be tough guys. Mike McDaniel. I'm not sure he's ever tough laid down some law. I think everything is always okay. That, you know what I mean? Like I get it. He's a players coach. That's fun. But, um, yep. Yep. I, uh, I tend to agree. Jaden reader discipline, uh, Jaden reader, Jamison Williams, Logan writes in on Instagram,
wants to know, read, uh, where our confidence is Williams where our confidence is. Whew. I, I, I'm more confident in Jamison Williams than I am in Jaden Reed. Jaden Reed can have, uh, you know, obviously at the beginning of the year, he had a ton of touchdowns, looked good. Um, the, the emergence, the what's, what's, is that, is that the word I'm looking for? It could be. You're going to have to finish the emergence of just Jacobs. Ascension. I mean, is that, what is that work? Like Josh Jacobs has just been a touchdown machine lately. Okay. So I think against the saints, I, I worry that it's, you know, it should regress back
to the mean, but right now it's working every game and that's hurting the, the, the receivers for the Packers, uh, the touchdown opportunities. So I, you know, I, I, I'm going to go Jamison Williams. I would try Jamison Williams out there, uh, higher probability of that big, big play, uh, an unknown with no David Montgomery and how that offense is going to function. And then, and that unknown can lend itself towards Williams targets. That's where I would go as well. So we'll take a quick break and jump back into some more mailbag questions. All right. This next question comes in off of Instagram.
Jason is Amari Cooper droppable for the Packers defense. Yeah. Of course. Any, any, um, any mid-level questionable starter at this point, I think is droppable for someone that you need. I mean, unless your opponent has the most monstrous hole at that position. I mean, I would not be afraid of my opponent picking up Amari Cooper. Yeah. I might be excited. Sure. I obviously Amari Cooper can get it done and have a, a big game. If, if I'm a huge underdog, he's the type of player I would throw in a lineup, but most people in the playoffs, especially in round two, you have good teams.
You don't need that kind of uncertainty. Amari Cooper's five games played. Uh, actually I'll include the game. He came and scored a touchdown in week one. Just so you know, Amari Cooper, the bill. Okay. On pace for 45 reception, 654 yards. Oh, awesome. And 2.8 touchdowns. 2.8. You say? Yeah. That's about what Jamar Chase scores every game. Uh, and, and it's only 2.8 because he scored one time in that first game. Yeah. He has not scored since then. Um, Jamar Chase is on pace for 1700 yards and 18. 18 touchdowns. Yeah. I, you gotta make the moves now that don't feel like normal moves.
If you've conditioned yourself for 13 weeks to think about your insurance back and having depth at this position and keeping this guy away from somebody else. And you're sitting there and you could pick up the Green Bay Packers against Spencer Rattler and no one and no Camara at Lambeau. You have to make that move. What your potential loss of points is later is lower than your potential gain in points today. You have to live short term. Yes. There is no tomorrow. And when I promise you, if you lose this week, you will find no solace staring at your bench of depth next week.
Correct. Uh, and, and I also promise you if you drop your backup, right. And, and, and your starter gets injured, but the move you made helped you win this week. It's a net win. I promise. Because yeah, you're fine. You're, you're fine. Um, also in case people were like, why is he bringing up Jamar Chase when you're talking about Amari Cooper? Um, I, I wanted to bring, I just bring that up because you were gifted. I have a purpose here of, of bringing this up. You were gifted. I made a great trade. You clicked accept. Yes. You, I, I, it wasn't all that went into it.
I pursued Chase for weeks. You know who else pursued him? It didn't have an accept button to click Al Borland over there. The, the, I made a way stronger offer. You very much. It wasn't just Amari. How are you clowns? However, the reason I'm bringing this up is because I want, this is a case study on hype on trading on hype. Amari Cooper has sucked. He has been irrelevant as a bill. He is worthless. But when that trade happened and he went to the bills, there was no receivers. There was no, what if, oh my gosh, he could be a top five.
He could turn into Jamar Chase. You know, I made, so you, I had made an offer. I'll just lay it out. That is not a defense. I had made an offer with Amari Cooper. It was Cooper, Najoku, Mooney, and two picks for Chase. No, I'm not doing it. He says. My good fortune was the trade happens. All of a sudden, the sugar plums are dancing in the mind of this other manager. So you made the trade offer when Amari Cooper was a brown. A brown. He says, no, I'm not doing that. It just so happened that within the next 24 hours, Cooper goes to Josh Allen and the bills.
The same offer comes back to me. And you couldn't click it quick enough. I mean, so fast. So fast. Yeah, because you got Jamar Chase for nothing. Because I'm already trading Cooper as if he was great. Yes. And there's a what if in the equation. When these trades happen, Hopkins. Hopkins got traded for in a lot of leagues with Kansas City. Cooper. When a mid-season trade happens, all you see is the greatest possible outcome. Not everybody. Yeah. But you're trading it on the value of the accomplishment. Whenever a player's value is super high on hope, trade at that level. If you can get something at that level, always do it.
We've said that for Dynasty Leagues a lot. We've said that for pre-draft trading, the value of the player. If you're getting the value of them performing to their maximum outcome. Yeah, it's not just trade them. Yeah, then you're winning no matter what. Yeah, because you're getting the value back. Yes. But it is a good point that I have Jamar Chase that you brought up. That you shouldn't have Jamar Chase that I brought up. Yes. Well, you know, not everyone listens to the show, Jason. All right. We've got more questions. Packers defense or Falcons defense? Falcons playing well. Sacking the quarterback.
Playing Tim Boyle in the Giants. Packers against the Saints. Wow. Both are on the road. Falcons are on the road, right? I know the Packers are in New Orleans. So, I'm going to go. Oh, they're both at home. Yeah, they are. Okay. Then I'm going to go with the Packers. Okay. Is the Bengals defense? This is from... I want you to answer that. Which one would you go with? Packers. Okay. Because I'm worried that Penix could put the defense in a bad situation. We saw that with the Cardinals and Kyler the other week. Land Rover on X writes in, Is the Bengals defense a sneaky potential number one defense this week?
100%. I am thinking motive over skill because the Browns are starting DTR. Yeah. I mean, I would love... You did this last week with Will Levis and it worked out. Yeah. I'm super happy to play the Bengals. The Bengals defense is bad in real life. But they do things that score in fantasy. You know, they sack the quarterback. They cause turnovers. And with DTR at quarterback, I would be fine playing the Bengals. Do you feel the same way? And this is a question coming from me as a follow-up. Do you feel that way about Jacksonville's defense? 30th in the league, but could be playing Desmond Ritter.
If I knew it was Desmond Ritter, yeah. If it's Aiden O'Connell, no. Right. I agree with that. Cody writes in on X, Do you go with a regular pepperoni pizza or pull out all the stops for your opponent during the playoffs? Okay. This is a question regarding a very... Successful. Common strategy if you are a follower of the show. Right. Which is you pre-congratulate your opponent. You let them know how great they are. Sometimes buying them a pizza. Well, you take care of them. You are... It's the opposite of trash talk. And you did not buy Al a pizza, which might have led to you losing by 80 points.
I just realized that. I just realized I didn't get Al a pizza. Because I got Brooks a pizza last year, and I beat him. And I should have got... Al, I'm sorry I didn't get you a pizza. I accept your apology. But no, pepperoni is fine. You can buy him one now, Al. Sure. Pepperoni is absolutely fine. I think a lot of people would say that that is the goat of pizza. I mean, what is pulling out all the stops? I don't know. Is that stuffed crust? I don't know. What's pulling out the stops? Is that getting them dipping sauce?
I mean... I mean, sure. If you will... It's not quantity... Total quantity of toppings does not make a good... A better pizza, right? Well, there's cheese pizzas that are better than supreme pizzas. But like the... Yeah. So like just adding more... I mean, it's more expensive if you add toppings. Yeah. This isn't about breaking the bank. Just get your opponent a pizza. If anything, I'd spell congrats in black olives. Yeah. Or if, you know, depending on the time of year, obviously this can't happen now, but sometimes there's like the heart-shaped pizza. That's just nice. That's just an act of love.
Good reminder, Jay. Al, when we meet next week, congrats. Your team is the best team I've ever seen. You too, buddy. Yeah. All right. Oh, he's already... Pizza fight! All right. YouTube question. Travis Kelsey or Britain Strange this week? Sweat, sweat, sweat emoji. Kelsey against Houston. Strange against Las Vegas. I mean, we talked about this in the context of your Dynasty team because, you know, Strange might be on waivers in Dynasty and you've got Kelsey. It's going to be Kelsey. I'm starting to waver just a little bit. For real? Yeah. No, it's Kelsey. It's Kelsey. Well, no, it would be Kelsey.
But I'm wavering on my like Otten or somebody else situation. Otten has been awful. Yeah. He's been, you know, but then I look in at Baker and Baker's got three touchdowns. Then he's got four touchdowns. The last two weeks? Yeah. Who's going to score a touchdown? That... Is it Mack Jones or is it Baker Mayfield? Yeah, it's Baker. So, is it Britain Strange or Tucker Craft? Where is the line? Because that question came in from John. Between those two? Yeah. Are you going 12 target Strange? I'm going to go with Craft. I'm going to search for the touchdowns. I think it's...
Craft over... Craft over Strange. Yeah. But I would take Kelsey over both of them. And for the record, that is either with Mahomes or with Wins. Got an update that Cedric Tillman remains in concussion protocol. Okay. I mean, he should not come back. I'm just... I'm saying, now that Jameis Winston isn't there, why bother? The Falcon over there, who has a great attendance record lately, by the way, Falcon. Going out of town, though, soon. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. He would like pizza for lunch. He just let us know. He would just let us know that we've said pizza enough time.
I'm in. All right. I'm in. Yeah. Jason, you paused. I'm eating healthier. But I'll eat a pizza. I mean, you don't have to twist my arm. All right. Lead me not into temptation. Aaron says, how do you decide what players to start or bench with a stacked roster? Oh, you just get it wrong. I mean, that's... The truth is, you're going to look at all the potential information, weather report. You know, are they home? Are they away? What's the over-unders in Vegas? What is going on with your brain right now, Andy? Wavers just processed. Wavers just went through. Oh. All right.
And I was almost hoping that I wouldn't get Brenton Strange because I got him. And now I'm going to be staring down Strange, Otten, all week long. Man. Borland decided to play some defense, grabbing Madison. Smart. And you got McMillan. Yeah, I got Jalen McMillan. You never know. I mean, if Mixon was out, would you be playing Damian Pierce against Kansas City, sharing a backfield with Agumbo Wallet? Or would you play McMillan in your flex? I would play McMillan. Yeah, that's why I did that. Interesting. So we'll see. But now I have to decide Strange or Otten. Do you know any good podcasts I could listen to that might have insight on that dilemma?
Yeah. The Dynasty episode that just came out today from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty show. Go subscribe. Now, Kyle, you're listening in, right? And your team in League of Records with Mike is just, I mean, it's been out of the playoffs for a few months here. Do you have an unbiased opinion on Strange v. Otten? I have a supervised opinion. It's always Otten. Yeah, you are. I mean, if you don't know Kyle's, I don't know what it is with Kate Otten, but Kyle is. Oh, is he kind of in love? Oh, man. He is an Otten truther. It's not true. He's just on the field.
I like that. See, I'm with you with that. I love the snap count. I looked again last week, 92%. He's almost always there. But, man, can we get him some targets, Kyle? Strange played 82%. I know. 12 targets. I know. 11 for 73. Well, I'll. Long of nine. I know. I will have to make that call. And you know what? Here's the final thing I'll say on today's show. Thursday game. Saturday games. Depending on how those go, that might. Very well make my decision. If you are. If you are a healthy lead. Yes. If you look like you're the favorite.
I assume that means you'll go strange. Maybe. I don't know. You don't know? I don't know. I think that's probably true. But it's hard to not play a tight end like Kate Otten in the highest overbunder of the week with Baker Mayfield. I think that will probably stay with my. That'll probably stay there. But if I got through the week and Otten sucked again, I'd have strange on my bench. Okay. You know what I mean? Boop. It's going to be a stressful week. I just realized. It's going to be a stressful week. Thank you for joining us, everybody. Thank you for supporting the show over at jointhefoot.com.
We appreciate you. We'll be getting Mike back here soon, I'm sure. We got Christmas coming up. And looking forward to that. I believe. What is our recording game plan for next week? I believe we're. Are we like. I know we're all. I know we're not recording Christmas, but are we double trouble on Tuesday or just a Tuesday show? I think it's just a Tuesday show. I think we're taking off Christmas Eve show. Then we're getting out of here, getting with the families. I believe both weeks, same on New Year's. Okay. All right. That'll do it for today's episode of the show.
Thank you, Ducers, minus Falcon for that mailbag drop. And we will catch you all tomorrow. Start to the week. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers. you Thank you.