Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in! Friday, September 29th, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Welcome to one and all more matchups today, the Fantasy Face-Off.
Hmm, delightful. Yes, yes. He wants to take his face off. No, it'll be good.
I missed it. You've missed the wheel. I've missed the wheel. Mike is just sitting in second place every week.
It's great. You know, first couple weeks, I got a dub. Jason flipped the script on me this week, he gets the dub. I mean, first of course, second place, guys.
Second place is delightful. You don't have to do anything. That is correct. Man, yeah, welcome in.
We have a lot to talk about, a Thursday night game to react to. We'll go exclusive 10 minutes to Al Borland today on the reaction to the Thursday night game, and just let him talk and talk and talk about that matchup. You excited about that, Al? That sounds like as big of a nightmare as the game was.
Okay, yeah, fair enough. But we're happy to have you with us. Because Twitter was, what it always is, a binary reaction of rational, level-headed discussion. Yeah, I mean, whatever Twitter feels in the moment is the eternal perspective on whatever's going on.
But yeah, there's a lot of reaction to the game. I mean, the Lions, they came out and they stomped the Packers. Yeah, yes. And it was even more impressive because the game began with a Jared Goff interception in Lambeau, so the momentum was certainly on the side of the Packers to begin that game, and they just, they squashed the Packers.
I mean, the pass rush destroyed the offensive line. It was not a running game for Green Bay. I mean, five carries for Jones and Dillon. Yeah, it's 27 total yards rushing.
Very difficult to run the Lions, and when you get down to boot, then you've got to throw the ball. Well, it didn't work out. The nice thing is, I think a lot of fantasy managers, you didn't play A.J. Dillon because Aaron Jones was active, and Aaron Jones, in a bad matchup just back from injury, I think a lot of people benched Aaron Jones as well.
Jordan Love had a nine-yard touchdown run, and he ended with negative two rushing yards. That's impressive. The two targets for Aaron Jones was, that was the real boggling thing of the usage. We knew snap count was a possibility.
Yeah, yeah, but even still, I don't know what the snap counts are currently. I don't know if we have that information. But it still is bizarre to only give Aaron Jones two targets in a game that you were losing bad the whole time. The main storyline of this game was the fact that the Detroit Lions went full Monty.
Yep. And 32 carries was a career high for David Montgomery. Well, I mean, when you're fresh off an injury. So 32 carries, 121 yards, three touchdowns, doing his best Jamal Williams impression from last year, and was fully dominant.
I mean, this was not 32 carries of inefficiency. This was slicing, dicing, and destroying the defensive line for the Green Bay Packers, or rather, following a great offensive line. The storyline of David Montgomery's career thus far has been producing as much as he possibly can behind a really bad Chicago offensive line. You're seeing what he's capable of behind a line that kind of imposes it as well.
Yeah, I mean, David Montgomery is a better player than Jamal Williams. Just straight up, those two, if they're next to each other, you would draft, you know, for your backyard team off the fence. You'd say, give me David on my team. And now, right, if you're really close, hey, Dave, come on, over.
Sorry, Jamal. But now he's in that role. He's going to succeed in that role. And shout out to my co-manager in the listener league.
I didn't even realize, too many leads. I didn't realize he was on the bench. He's active. Oh, no.
And so he's like, he put him in over Brandon Cooks. Nice. Very well done. And you didn't know until the game was gone?
No, no, no. He texted me. He was like, hey, we should do this. I was like, yes, we should.
Jameer Gibbs with 12 touches in this game, 8 for 40 on the ground. He caught four passes. On the year, Jameer Gibbs has 18 targets in the passing game to David Montgomery's three. But this was not, you know, this is an interesting discussion.
Because the lack of utilization of Jameer Gibbs is disappointing, without question. It's not what I expected to begin the year. He obviously had the bigger touch week last week with David Montgomery on the shelf. But it's succeeding for the Lions.
Like, the game plan, not seeing Montgomery in preseason. Clearly, this is a 1A, David Montgomery. And then Jameer Gibbs is fitting into this role now. 2B.
Yeah, 1A, 2B. Jameer Gibbs is on the edge of RB2, most likely in the flex type of consideration moving forward. And you are hoping, you know, last night was the perfect recipe for David Montgomery. Positive game script from the jump.
Efficient running game. Didn't need the passing game in the second half. I mean, if you had Amon Ra, thank goodness you got that first touchdown. Because the targets for Amon Ra and Samuel Forda, who both had a great first half, were basically not existent in the second half.
But let's have some totality of perspective on Gibbs. Sure. I was going to ask the question. Do we now view, we're four weeks in, do you have to look at Jameer Gibbs and try to think about the game script?
Think about, is this a game that the Detroit Lions will struggle against a superior team? And that's not saying the Lions are bad. Or a competitive team. Or a competitive team, where they actually have to throw the ball a whole bunch more.
Because Goff only threw the ball 28 times. It is disheartening to have to see 34 points for the Detroit Lions. And Jared Goff had a subpar fantasy. It was a bad fantasy day for Goff.
Yeah, I mean, the issue might become that if you are saying, you know, you've got to take into account the matchup prior to this game, you would have said, this is going to be a competitive game. A divisional, in Lambeau, this is the type of game that, towards the end of the game, they're going to need to throw. They're going to need the most out of their most efficient player. Problem is, the Lions might be really, really good.
And if they're really, really good, and they start, you know, imposing their will with their awesome offensive line, it could spell bad news. I mean, you look at last season, right? They had DeAndre Swift, and they had Jamal Williams. And Jamal Williams was a better fantasy asset all year long, even when Swift was healthy.
Which, looking at the Lions' upcoming schedule, if they aren't truly that good, and Gibbs is going to have to rely a little bit on game script, you buckle up, because it's going to be rough. Here we've got next week, we've got the Panthers at home for the Lions, then it's on the road against the Buccaneers. That's two matchups that the Lions should be fantastic. Then you get the Ravens, but then you get the Raiders.
So, that's rough, man. We spent almost all of yesterday throwing out scenarios with bottom-of-the-barrel running backs. Jameer Gibbs is start-worthy in the flex position in most weeks. Yeah, almost every week.
And I think, you know, he hasn't scored in four weeks. Ian Harden's had a good perspective post that came out yesterday talking about, you know, through the first four weeks, rookie first-round running back since 2014. Touches-wise, Jameer Gibbs is tied with Christian McCaffrey through four weeks. When McCaffrey arrived in Carolina, they had an incumbent, right?
It was Jonathan Stewart. And we saw almost the identical type of utilization in that scenario. It is not what fantasy managers or myself hoped for, but it is a long season. And he's a very talented player.
He's a more talented player than Kenny Gainwell in a timeshare. He's a more talented player than a lot of timeshare running backs. You know, I'd rather have Jameer Gibbs than Jaylen Warren, okay? Or Kenny Gainwell, right?
Probably even more than Damian Pierce over the remainder of the season. And he was the RB20 going into this game. Yeah, he hasn't been bad. He just has been disappointing for what the hopes were.
Where he was drafted in fantasy drafts. First month of the season. Mike said it really well yesterday, actually. I think it was on our footcast recording when we were talking about Jonathan Taylor.
And it's just, you've got to keep in mind, it is a long season. Everything feels like what happens the first month, that's what's going to happen the rest of the way. It never is like that, unless you're Christian McCaffrey. And then it's just every week, yeah, it's great.
It is like that for him. Romeo Dobbs, another big fantasy day. It didn't look like, you know, if you stream Jordan Love, where you played Romeo Dobbs the first half of that game, you were like, well, week five, everybody. But garbage time is a spectacular thing.
I mean, they've had to mount comebacks in multiple weeks now. And, you know, it kind of, it worked out. Jordan Love wasn't spectacular. Quite the opposite.
But he did end up with two touchdowns in the game. Any other players or storylines that you want to talk about in this one? Let me just see, the Romeo Dobbs, I know they were mounting a comeback in the second half, but 13 targets after a, last week we had a double-digit target performance as well. That seems like great news for Dobbs.
Christian Watson, if you took the risk, you at least got 25 at a touchdown, that certainly could have gone a lot worse. And then Laporta, man, he is, he looks fantastic. It was, again, for every Detroit pass catcher, the game script was so unfortunate, because Goff and the Lions were playing very, very well, but they didn't need to throw the ball. Yep, Sam Laporta, over 50 yards again, looks the part.
Got a text from Al Borland saying I should have traded Waller for Laporta after he watched a couple of those highlights. But, all right, it is Friday. Today's winner of a $100 gift card to fantasychamps.com is for Clan supporter Abel D. Abel, congratulations.
You will be able to redeem that. Very soon, at fantasychamps.com, let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.
There was a report this morning that comes from ESPN, Stephen Holder, saying Jonathan Taylor appears ready to return from the PUP. He's eligible after this week. Oh, man, here we go. It did put the fear of God in me, with regards to Zach Moss' spot on my roster.
I have no Moss and no Taylor anywhere, so I get to sit back. You get to sit in the audience? Yep, I get to eat my popcorn and see what happens. Broncos wide receiver Jerry Judy remained limited on Thursday with a knee injury, Rashad Bateman.
Odell Beckham Jr., old Dell Beckham Jr., mispracticed again on Thursday, because wide receivers are not something that the Ravens like to have. Well, to be fair, they don't like to have running backs either. Yeah, that's true. That's in other words.
He did practice in full, dealing with a concussion. Justice Hill returned to a limited practice. Oh, my God. You might have both players back against Cleveland.
So many people need Justice Hill. I don't know if this week's going to be the ride you want, but... No, it doesn't matter. We need his opportunities.
Yeah, I mean, that's true. Anthony Richardson practiced in full, should be back. Big names from the matchups coming up later today. DK Metcalf held out a practice on Thursday.
Jimmy Garoppolo limited. Devontae Smith didn't practice due to illness. And then we did get some early practice reports this morning. Sean Watson spent time with the trainer this morning.
We don't have any more information than that. Sore shoulder all week long. So we'll see how he is doing. Miles Sanders was limited the last two days with a groin.
That's not good. Does not have a helmet on. That is not good considering that that was the same issue. He was held out of the preseason in some training camp before.
He had a groin issue. So if it's a re-aggravation, man, it might be everyone that is running back thirsty might want to go to their waivers right now and look for Chuba Hubbard. That's a good point. Yeah, Chuba would be a good start if you get more work in total than Miles.
And Chuba has looked good this year. He really has. Shout out to Chuba. Yeah.
That was today's news notes. They play Minnesota, right? That is correct. That was today's news notes presented by USAA Insurance.
Learn more at usaa.com slash insurance. Fantasy Forecast. Well, let's start with that matchup. The Minnesota Vikings at 0-3 take on the Carolina Panthers at 0-3.
I saw some stats this morning. Kirk Cousins start to this season, passing for over 1,000 yards, over nine touchdowns. The completion percentage, his performance has been historical. There are only nine other quarterbacks that have ever had that type of a start to a season in terms of the yardage and the touchdowns.
None of the other nine have started worse than 2-1 on those seasons. And I was going to highlight, the Vikings are my second team. I know the Vikings fan base. The 0-3, it's Kirk Cousins' fault.
Yeah, he is on pace right now for 6,091 yards and 51 passing touchdowns. Not good enough. Well, he does get a chance to go on the road and play the winless Carolina Panthers. The drafting sportsbook line has Minnesota's four-and-a-half point road favorites.
The over-under is 46-and-a-half. And, you know, I think they're going to be able to get it done. It's time to break through. Bryce Young, been practicing, is expected to take over at quarterback.
We saw the illustrious Andy Dalton. He was set up for some success in this matchup, but we should get Bryce Young. And I think Bryce Young will get better as the season goes on. Kirk Cousins, like I said, he's been a must-start, and you continue to put him in your lineup this week.
Although the Panthers' defense, I've been impressed with it over the course of the year, making their own three-start all the more frustrating for Panther fans, I'm sure. Miles Sanders, we just talked about it. If he's out, Chuba Hubbard is in. The Minnesota defense, it's been pretty good against the run, mostly because it allows teams to pass on it, but Chuba can catch the ball.
Adam Thielen's my start of the week on the Carolina side at wide receiver. DJ Chark is with Bryce Young, right? Yeah, I'm totally fine with Bryce Young. He had a good week the week before.
DJ Chark had 11 targets. But what is the status of that hamstring? Because that is unfortunate. Honestly, it doesn't even change my thinking on it.
If Bryce Young is a quarterback, I'm not putting DJ Chark out there. Yeah, the 11 targets were in the Andy Dalton game, and you would expect those to be better. So I would agree with you. With the combination of the hamstring limited Thursday with the hamstring issue and Bryce Young expected to play, I don't think you need to be looking DJ Chark's way.
There are plenty of other options. I had just the hottest DraftKings lineup with Andy Dalton and DJ Chark. Oh, really? Yeah, because of those two guys, you could play every superstar on the salary.
I had DJ Chark in my lineup as well, and it is a disheartening reality when you look at it. When you've got the hamstring plus the Bryce Young situation, and the lack of being able to throw the ball deep, it's concerning. On the other side, wheels up, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, DJ Hawkinson. We're going to see Cam Akers debut?
I do not think anyone is even questioning, can I start Cam? You don't start Cam Akers, even though it's a plus matchup so far on the season. You just don't know what the workload's going to be. Yeah, the question is, what does it do to Alexander Madison?
Can you start him? Alexander Madison was Alexander the Great last week. Had a fantastic game despite fumbling after every play was over. Yes.
I mean, the coach came to just drop the ball. He was mad at him. Because the team's mad at him on every carry, but he wasn't productive. The team did issue, or the coach gave the warning that went out in the public eye, too, of people better stop fumbling or you're going to hit the bench.
And it feels very directed at Madison, but it's also not just him. This whole team has a fumbling problem. Are you playing Madison? I am.
The matchup, the Panthers run defense, 30-second in expected points per rush attempt, 29th in fantasy points allowed to the running back position. Until it certainly comes with risk of maybe the team really, really loves Cam Akers, and they're already ready to make that switch. But with last week's performance, moving into this one with a little bit of momentum, I'm playing Madison as a running back, too. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-1, and they take on the 1-2 Houston Texans in Houston.
The drafting sports with a line in Pittsburgh, minus just 2-1⁄2. The over-under is 42-1⁄2. Houston was great last week. Pittsburgh's starting to get going a little bit.
The offensive line in Houston still decimated. I saw Laramie Tunzel not going to be back out there. It did give me the small hope that when that offensive line gets pieced back together a little bit, we could have a brighter future for Damian Pierce, because the offense has been able to move the football. With C.J.
Stroud, Tank Dell, Nico Collins, I think we've all been impressed with those three players in this offense. I haven't been impressed with Pierce because the offensive line has been so just damaged. Like a fully healthy Houston offensive line wasn't going to be top tier. But Damien Pierce right now, if you're in the running back landscape, you're probably playing him this week.
Yeah, I mean, you might have to, but... I'm playing Damien Pierce this week. What if you just scooped up A-chan? Oh, I'd play A-chan over Damien Pierce for sure.
Andy? I don't think that there is... I can't make the path for Damien Pierce to score 25 points. So you shoot for the upside?
Yeah, I mean, I just... I can't figure out a way that A-chan scores less than Damien Pierce either. What about Brees Hall against Kansas City? Yeah, I'm going to play Damien Pierce in that situation.
Thus far, the Steelers have given up a lot of points to the running backs, and they're at home, and Brees Hall has a floor at zero. It's been a disaster. Final... No, no, no, no, no, Jake.
I'm starting Brees, baby. You know it. Okay. I did try to get out of that.
I did try to pivot away. You didn't want to be on the record. Sneaky. But what about both running backs on the other side?
Because the Houston Texans are a terrible run D. So this is a week where, you know, you've been very frustrated with Najee. Najee has just been terrible. Obviously, you're going to start him when you're getting the opportunities he's getting in this matchup.
Favorite, like, Najee, you should start. And I presume you would start him over Damian Pierce, correct? You probably should. But, I mean, look at the numbers for Najee.
I mean, four fantasy points, four fantasy points, six fantasy points. And that is... Oh, that's what I said. That's just...
You should, because it's more likely that he scores a touchdown in this game than I think Pierce does, but... Yeah, I mean, Pierce is five fantasy points, four fantasy points, fell into the end zone and was okay. Yeah, I mean, look, that's... But the question is Jalen Warren.
I think you can flex him. But would you play Jalen Warren or Damian Pierce? This is... I'd play Damian Pierce.
I'd play Pierce. Okay. The offensive side for Pittsburgh also includes a couple of, you know, at least one wide receiver dart through every week. George Pickens, 16 targets.
I think he can be in your lineup. The Mews got loose, scored a touchdown. You can play him. On the other side has been the, you know, Nico Collins had a big week, 149 yards.
Tank Dell's had a couple of big weeks. You know, both of those players are flex-worthy consideration type of guys. I'm not putting Tank Dell in a must-start category yet. No, no.
You still need to grow and see it. And I don't mean that as in, like, get taller. He is small. It would be.
He is not the big guy. Nico's the big guy. I think the real question is if you... You know, who do you prefer between Nico and Tank Dell?
To me, I have made that transition. Not to where Tank Dell is a must-start. You've got to have him in your lineup. But he is ahead of Nico to me.
If I had both guys, I'd be starting Tank. Yeah, it's close. If you just want to follow who performed last week, I mean, that wouldn't have gotten you anywhere on the transitional week of Nico to Dell. So part of me, for some reason, prefers the bigger physical guy in this matchup.
So I kind of lean that direction, but I think both are in play. Sure. I also think that the Pittsburgh Steelers DST will be having a good time without Landon Tonsil there. The Las Vegas Raiders, the Los Angeles Chargers, we'll jump into that matchup next.
All right, we're talking Raiders and Chargers. Raiders and Chargers are both one and two. The Drafting Sportsbook line has the Chargers as five-and-a-half-point home favorites. The over-under is 48-and-a-half.
Feels like we're talking about these kind of games with the Chargers every week. Yeah, it's a delight. It is an absolute delight with the Chargers because their offense, it's doing enough, is scoring a lot of points. Their defense is making sure that they find ways to lose games.
Need to score a lot of points. Yeah. Yeah, and you do have, you know, Mike Williams out for the year, ACL there. And so fantasy players are looking for the who's going to step up situation.
I do not believe, you know, that Keane Allen's getting 20 targets a week. No. I don't think that's going to be feasible and they're going to have to turn to other options. Yeah, I would agree.
The other options right now, week one, it's probably going to be Palmer as the player that will receive the most targets snaps in replacement of Mike Williams. But they have come out and said Quentin Johnston is going to see more action, which obviously better. You see your first round pick and one of your two star wide receivers went down. If not now, when?
Yeah, the language around it was he's going to get opportunities on the 50-50 balls that Mike Williams would have had the chance to go up and get. So you're talking big play potential with Quentin Johnston. You're talking probably more PPR value with Joshua Palmer. In week one, if I had both, I'd be playing Palmer.
I feel like that's safer. You're probably going to see maybe a little spillover into the tight end position. Gerald Everett and Donald Parham, it's kind of hard to pick one of those guys. Gerald Everett did mispractice with an illness.
If you had to start one of those two, I guess I'm going to chase the touchdown with Parham. It's really difficult because Gerald Everett is the one who gets more targets. You know, the two targets each of the past few weeks for Parham. Meanwhile, Everett, six and three.
But it's hard to argue against a couple weeks in a row, or not in a row, but just a couple weeks that we've seen Parham being a go-to read in the red zone or inside the five zone. So I think I'd go Parham as well. What's happening in the backfield of Los Angeles, Jason? Why don't you give us the intimate glance at the Austin Eckler-Joshua Kelly conundrum?
Sure. The conundrum is answered very easily, which is if Austin Eckler is able to go. Right now, he's been practicing in a limited fashion. He's not able to cut and turn as well as he would like to be doing right now, but he can run straight at full speed.
If he is out there, you're obviously going to play him. He will be better than any alternative you're finding off of waivers or your bench. Later game. Joshua Kelly is really bad.
And the matchup is really good, but the matchup was very good last week. I think this is nothing more than a break glass in case of emergency situation. Latavius Murray or Josh Kelly? I think I lean Latavius Murray.
Huge scoring game projected with the Dolphins. And if you're chasing a touchdown, I think it's more likely that Latavius Murray falls in an end zone. What can you really do with the Eckler situation if he's the late game? Do you have a gauge?
I mean, you're trying to decide on your starts. There's a lot of morning games. Are you just waiting until Saturday night and trying to make a judgment called in? Are you going to wait through game time?
Yeah. I mean, thankfully, it's not necessarily the last game of the week. You've got a handful of other options that you can pivot to, but you do need to be aware that look at what your other pivot options are and look at the game time. Because if they are before, if they're in the morning game, all your pivot options during the morning, then you're going to have to start him if it is not announced yet whether Eckler will play.
I do expect that by Sunday morning, we will know whether Eckler's going to be Eckler. So looking through what the schedule is, the afternoon games, Raiders-Chargers, I'm not playing Josh Kelly, Cardinals 49ers, so maybe you have Connor. I think that the pickup of just like the full, this is an emergency, I bet everything on Eckler, it might be the past Cowboys game, because there's a chance that Zeke is on your waiver wire. He is not a good start this week, but if you're going to put all the...
Wow. Would you play... No, I'd play Zeke. I'd play Zeke.
Well, I'm just saying, who might be on your wires? That's fair. Probably on a lot of rosters, too. Elijah Mitchell could be another...
Yeah, that's a good one. Elijah Mitchell is one of the later slate games. He got work last week, and you could easily see the San Francisco 49ers just having Mitchell ice the game in the fourth. Consolidation of options on the Raiders side.
Jacobs, Adams, Myers. It's beautiful. End of list. It's beautiful.
All right, let's turn the page. New England, that game you just talked about. One and two. Heading to Dallas to take on the two and one Dallas Cowboys.
The drafting sportsbook line here is Dallas minus six and a half. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, they're at home.
You've already given one. You don't have to force them. I know. Look, I don't force anything.
It is true. They just come to him. This game, I won't make it official. Okay.
But don't be surprised. Dallas is heavy favorites. They had a hugely disappointing performance last week. The Patriots, the one and two.
They're battling to stay in contention in a very difficult division. You know, Dak right now, he's not a quarterback that I am actively trying to get into my lineup. You may be stuck. You may be stuck, but I pivoted to Russell Wilson this week over Dak.
I don't like what I've seen from a game plan perspective. I don't think Dallas... They just don't always need it from Dak. So there's this percentage of time that they don't need Dak because the running game and the defense is enough.
Then there's a percentage of time where they do need Dak and he doesn't perform. Then there's a percentage of time where they need Dak and he does perform and you're happy you started him. But I look at it as a... You know, it's one of the three.
It's one third of the time. It's one third of the time. So that puts me into hesitation and looking for a little bit more guaranteed production and ceiling. Dak so far has not been better than the quarterback 17 on any given week this season.
The Patriots defense has looked outstanding. This is not the week to play Dak. I mean, there are plenty of options on waivers I would play over Dak. The Patriots are giving up just 10 points per game to opposing fantasy quarterbacks.
And yeah, I mean, Daniel Jones ran wild and scored a ton of points on Arizona and Dak couldn't do that in the second half. Tony Pollard, he's been outstanding. Mike and I were talking about the running back room or the running back landscape and how like it was Christian McCaffrey and they're like, who's really next on that tier of who you would trade some of the higher performing Mostert's for, right? Like Mostert's number one right now.
So who'd you go get? Well, it's like McCaffrey's there. And the next name up was really Tony Pollard to us. Not Eckler just because of the injury?
Yeah, not Eckler just because of the injury right now. I mean... Yeah, we were looking at guys who actually are performing. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, like Eckler is certainly... Yeah, now that you bring it up, it's a good consideration. But we don't know. The Patriots shut down the tight end position.
At least they have this year. Yeah, I mean, this is a matchup play. What about those options with the Chargers? Yeah, I think I would rather go with the Chargers in a high over-under.
This game, look, you've got two great defenses here. The Cowboys have great defense. The Patriots have good defense. I'm not expecting a ton of passing volume from either team.
I'm not looking to smoosh Hunter Henry in my lineup or Jake Ferguson in my lineup. If you're not a superstar, if you're not C.D. Lamb, I think C.D. Lamb's the only pass catcher I want on both sides of the ball here.
Yeah, I wouldn't start any of the wideouts in New England. I'd go Ferguson over the Chargers, guys. Let's take the targets. Ramondre Stevenson's RB16 on the air.
Ramondre is thus far what? Is he a disappointment? Is he neutral? I think he's pretty neutral.
Last week he was disappointing. And really... Oh, week one he was too, right? No, he was RB19.
Yeah, he wasn't bad. 12 for 25. But 6 for 64 through the air. Yeah, I just remember people talking about it.
He's been a poor rusher this year. I mean, we're at 2.9 yards per carry through the first three weeks. But he's a great pass catcher, and he's out there for the majority of the time. Even last week, Zeke had a big rushing day against the New York Jets, but a lot of that came towards the end of the game when they were just trying to do ball control.
So I expect Ramondre is still the guy. He's a 73% snap type of player who catches passes, should see goal line opportunity. So he's still in for me despite the nasty matchup. You hope he catches passes in this game, because it feels like a low ceiling game if he doesn't.
Just for perspective, Ramondre on the season is averaging 10.7 fantasy points per game through three weeks. Yeah, I would say that I am 100% confident that Ramondre Stevenson has a great season. What I've seen from him and his utilization in the offense really makes me... Like, I would love to have Ramondre.
I would trade for Ramondre. That being said, you're going to have, I think, two bad weeks here. This is the Cowboys where I think you're right. It's just the ceiling doesn't seem very high in this matchup.
You're still starting them this week. Next week, I expect a bad game against the Saints. The Saints' run defense is awesome. Their overall defense is awesome.
But after that, his schedule gets open and nice, and I want Ramondre on my rosters. The Cardinals are 1-2, going to San Francisco to take on the San Francisco 49ers, 3-0. DraftKings Sportsbook line, San Francisco minus 14. The overrunner's 44.
That gives the Cardinals an implied point total of 15. The 49ers almost hit 30. We're staring down this game, and now we see Hollywood Brown has been added to the injury report with a thumb injury. Seems to have happened at practice.
Keontae Ingram, backup running back, is also on the injury report. It could be a game-time decision. Actually, I was going to bring up Rondell Moore as a... If you're flexing Josh Kelly, if you're flexing a low-ceiling option, they've already come out and said that Rondell Moore is going to start taking snaps in the backfield.
If Keontae Ingram is out, all the snaps where Conor's not on the field could potentially go to Rondell Moore in the backfield, and he'll be running routes, and the game script says, hey, maybe you see a little bit more of it. You talk about a sneaky potential option, something to pay attention to, break glass type of situation. He had 54 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown last week with that breakaway run. You give him enough opportunities just to touch the ball because he's such a speedy guy, he could break something off.
What are you doing? I mean, James Conner, you guys have talked about it a little bit. Perspective on this matchup, or they only have an implied point total of 15? It just doesn't matter.
They have an implied point total of 15 every week. I mean, you don't expect the Cardinals to hit 20 most weeks, regardless of the matchup. James Conner, we talked about it. He went, I think, in a stretch of 10 games where he lost nine of them.
He was never outside of the top 24 at the running back position. He's matchup-proof. You don't expect a big game here, but... Didn't expect him last week.
You have to start him. Every week, you have to start him. On the other side of the ball, are you guys currently expecting no Debo? He's not practiced all week.
Yeah, I'm currently expecting no Debo, and I am currently expecting a somewhat banged-up Brandon Ayuk. You definitely can still start him. I'm going to hold my breath while that happens, and really, George Kittle should be the primary benefactor here. The Cardinals have just never been good at guarding the tight end, and, you know, game scripts are Shanahan's thing.
If he knows he doesn't have Debo and he's got to hurt Ayuk, he's just going to write up a couple of plays where it's like, hey, I'm just going to force-feed the ball to Kittle over and over where they can't stop him, and it's going to work. All right, makes sense. This game, you know, McCaffrey, he's in there, Mike. Your start of the week was Brock Purdy yesterday.
Brandon Ayuk will be back. I expect him to have success. Elijah Mitchell, that desperate kind of mop-up role, if the game plan goes that direction. I mean, the Cardinals, at least in the game line, received no reward for their defeat of the Cowboys.
You would start Rondell Moore over Elijah Mitchell in the plex? Probably for stealing, yeah. But, I mean, you could go, you could get goosed pretty good on Rondell Moore. You could definitely be surprised there.
They may not have success. It was 14 opportunities last week for Elijah Mitchell. Really? Yeah.
I knew he was a ball. That number surprises me. I did not realize he was a ball. Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet.
Yeah, you're never surprised. Yeah, I see every one of them. Man. All right.
Kansas City, 2-1, Sunday Night Football. Jets, is this the end? I mean, prime time, Zach Wilson. Are we ready for this?
Have you planned your meal times appropriately? Yeah, I'll have my popcorn out. I'll have the binoculars, because I want... You might need the Pepto if you're Jets fan.
I'm going to be watching this on TV with binoculars. I want to see Zach Wilson's face. I saw a report yesterday that Zach Wilson is trying to win over his teammates. And to do so, he purchased ice cream for everybody.
Oh, my gosh. I mean, that's a great start. That is a real report. It is a real report.
What kind of ice cream? I don't know. Are we talking like he went to the grocery store and got some dryers, or did we pony up? I don't know if he's...
I don't know if he's talking to us. I don't know what we got. Pony up for ice cream? I mean, come on.
They're like... Quarterbacks are getting their teammates insane guesses. It's like, I'm going to win them over. I'm going to get them something they shouldn't be eating right now.
The quarterback, they'll juice up the offensive line. If you're buying for everyone in the building, I mean, that's a hefty bill. No expensive ice cream is these days. So, Mike, you're in on them.
On the move. I'm in on the sentiment of it, but it will do jack squats. If you don't perform on the field, after the... I mean, think of all the Jets players who were on this roster last year, busting their butts, doing everything they can to win football games only to watch their offense be inept, and when they would lose, the reason was because the offense couldn't keep hard with the defense.
It's happening again. It's unfortunate, but you... The fact that this is on prime time, I don't know if that's what you were inferring. Is this the end?
Yes, could this be the end? The nation will be watching this game. The tweets will be flowing through to every non-Zack Wilson player on the Jets after this week probably the move will happen. Breeze Hall and Dalvin Cook will be the running backs for the Jets in this game.
The Chiefs are giving up 12 points a game to running backs. I think they are... I would be trying everything in my power to not play either one of them because this reminds me of like... You remember when the Cleveland Browns came out and Isaiah Crowell was getting off-season hype and it was like, we're going to be a running football team.
You don't get to be one. Not against the Chiefs. If you're down 17-0 in the first six minutes of the game because Mahomes scored and then your defense scored and then you kick the field goal, do you think that they can just run Breeze Hall every play and just... It's not going to happen.
All right, I'll give you some nasty names here then. Just comparatively over Breeze Hall. I don't know that the floor could be that low for Breeze is my point. Would you play Brian Robinson against Philadelphia?
Of course I would. Against Philadelphia? Of course I would. Okay, let's go down the list.
Would you play Roshan Johnson against Denver? Yes. No. No, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't. I went too far. But listen... But little Herbert, you would play above Breeze?
Yes, absolutely. Oh, man. Look, Breeze Hall has scored. This stinks.
This stinks, guys. 4.1 fantasy points in the last two games. That's combined. Not each game.
Now... Your floor is zero, bro. Can I interest you in a halftime switch to Trevor Simeon? He's going to be an active this week.
Oh, dadgummit. You could. I would be very interested. You could do halftime Tim Boyle.
Still an upgrade. Boyle rules. If I was trying to make my mark a la Mike White and get a contract, the best depth chart to be on is the Jets. Oh, for sure.
Because you start to look as you were the garbage. And then you put the garbage by sink your garbage. You look like you're, I don't know, special. I honestly...
Like, not a garbage. It's not a joke. I really believe this offense is there too? Was that a year?
He was active. Yeah, I know. Anyway, you're right, Jason. It probably would be better.
Let Brees Hall play quarterback. So, it just feels like piling up. Okay, yeah, let's... So, Garrett Wilson.
You know, he had his highest targets last week in this offense. He had nine targets. I think Garrett Wilson is a flex. I think he will be fine to do the game script.
Look at what Rob Dobbs did last night. A flex? I would agree with. He is too talented of a player to say that you have to bench someone like that.
You don't ever have to bench Garrett Wilson. He can make special things happen. You absolutely can bench him if you have other good options. You know, I brought it up.
You know, my manageable roster. I started four other wide receivers over Garrett Wilson last week. It worked out great. Yeah, I'd be mentioning if I had D-Bow this week.
I don't think I'm going to have him. So, I'm going to get back to Garrett Wilson. This is not a great matchup. The Chiefs defense has just looked really, really solid all year.
And it makes sense when you talk about the running backs that, you know, oh, you get down. You can't run. You've got to throw against them. But teams haven't been throwing against them very successfully either.
You know, and now they've got Chris Jones back to just terrorize the quarterback. So, this is... I would prefer to not start Garrett Wilson this week. Nine-point road favorites, Kansas City, and a 41-point over-under.
Puts the Jets at 16 points. Chiefs 25. Mahomes is in. Pacheco highlighting eight red zone opportunities last week.
I was tied with Pollard and HN for the second most of the week. Nice to see. It's being pointed out that his snaps were low, but that's not relative to the Mahomes snaps. He played a career...
or a season-high percentage when Mahomes was in the game. They blew out... It was the Bears, right? 40-0 or whatever it was.
So, they blew out the Bears. And while Mahomes was in the game, Pacheco actually had his highest snap share of the season. Wide receiver-wise, Tony's been banged up. Skymore, Rashi Rice.
If I was shooting a dart, I'd be shooting it with Rashi Rice. Yeah, I agree. I don't think you need to shoot a dart here. There's a lot of other players...
If the Jets can't score, which they can't, then you don't... It's one of those things kind of like what we saw with the Lions, where it's like, well, you hope it comes in the first half, and I'm not hoping for a good first half of a dart throw from a wide receiver room. I lean with you guys if Rice is who I prefer, but I do just want to point out for the Sky people, Skymore's target share has increased every single week. So there's Sky people and there's Rice people.
Yes, so we were at... I'm in the Rice field. In the dumpster of the 8% week one went to 10, then we had 16%. I mean, and a 16% target share, I mean, factoring in the fact that the Holmes played is like 70% of the game, maybe there's hope, but it's very minimal.
It's funny because if Rice had been able to run one extra yard two times, he would have been the headliner potentially in the wide receiver room on the waiver day. Those are things to pay attention to. 35% of the wide receiver targets are there. Travis Kelsey, it's been reported that Taylor Swift will be in attendance.
So then you play him. That's the only reason. Right, well, Taylor Swift's going to be there, so I'm going to be willing to play Kelsey. The game's actually sold out because the Swifties want to be near.
Did you know that? They want to be nearby. It's like, you don't think it's because the Chiefs are coming to town? That's what I've heard.
Okay, that's because it's a football game. Also, I've been told that this is really important. It is really important, yeah. Do you find it pretty important?
Look, I will say this. I'm driving my kids to school, you know, this last Monday and it was like, did you hear about the football game? I was like, about Kelsey? I was like, you know, my kids aren't the ones that are usually talking about football.