Transcript of Starts of the Week + Week 4 Games, Cat Fight! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/1

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Oh, welcome in.

It's football time. New graphics.

Oh, we got new stuff?

I got a little nervous you weren't going to remember to do it.

Does he have to time that up?

I mean, he just hit the button. Does he have—

he has the ability? Yeah, I was a little late.

I'll be honest.

Okay. Yeah, he wasn't happy with it. We'll lock it in. So you breaking out the graphics for Steelers-Browns, huh? It's the first time you want to break them out?

That's right. For our—

Watson-Rogers.

Upcoming dominant Cleveland Browns victory.

Yes, Mike. Yes.

I'm on that side.

Browns Bros. Oh man, what could go wrong?

Wow.

We now did— is that the game we've got the money on?

Yeah, we got the money on.

Fantastic.

You can't keep track of how much stuff you got money on.

Can you? Can you? It's literally the only thing I have money on right now.

Okay. Fair enough. Well, we do get football tonight and the week 4 of this season begins. So it'll be fun.

Week 4 is a fun week because like after that is you start to feel like, okay, we're getting a handle on What's going on with these defenses, who we actually have to target.

I know, and then you also start bye weeks next week.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, that, that's interesting. Yeah, we have, we have like some fun Sunday, Monday night matchups too. Like I think it's Lions-Carolina on Sunday Night Football.

Oh, is that Sunday night?

Yeah.

Because that game is going to have approximately 2 bajillion points.

That's Sunday night. And yeah, Carolina's defense, not good. They're more beat up. Yeah. I'm excited. Are you excited? Because I have like Gibbs and Amon-Ra against you that night because we're playing each other in the good record. Are you excited about that?

No, that part I'm not. I mean, I'm excited to watch the game.

On Monday Night Football, you have—

I have Tyler Shuck, Bijan, and Devon Velez. Yeah.

I'm not excited about that. So I mean, but I am for the game. So that's fantasy football in a nutshell. But it should be a fun week. Jointhefoot.com is the community, the ultimate dashboard. We announced yesterday we have in-season or really year-round now. We have dynasty startup rankings. You can drag a little slider to win now versus, you know, long-term or balanced or whatever you want to do to evaluate dynasty trades, including the trade analyzer and stuff like that. You can check it out at jointhefoot.com. The website is the fantasy dashboard. We're going to jump into the news.

News and notes from around the league.

Oh, I didn't see this. Thursday Night Football Steelers have ruled out running back Rico Dowdle. I had last seen that they were thinking he was going to be back. So it'll be all Jaylen Warren tonight. Sean McVay said he expects Puka Nacua to play in week 4 against the Eagles.

Okay.

Okay. That's, that's great news for all Puka managers. As someone who has the Higbee-Ferguson combo everywhere, I'm like, oh man, but glad he's healthy.

Yeah, that does change the equation for the like spot start of Mr. Higbee.

Yeah. He might have been dropped in many leagues this morning.

Yeah, that news changes things. Jalen Waddle practicing in full despite the report of a precautionary walking boot. Mike Evans did not practice on Wednesday. The news from their general manager, John Lynch, was that he's going to do everything he can to play through everything he can because I don't know, probably at his age he has to play through something all the time.

You're telling me he's going to do everything, not just most of the things?

I think he's going to try to do everything.

What a guy, Mike Evans.

So let's, let's say you're getting Puka Nacua back, right? You're one of those managers who made accommodations for Puka Nacua. And let's just say the 2 wide receivers that you had in at the time, time were Ted McMillan and Jameson Williams, 2 somewhat underperforming draft picks. Who would you put Puka in over this week unless weather changes? Both their matchups are good. I like each other.

Yeah, I really like Teteroa this week so long as the weather is okay. I mean, obviously the weather is going to be the same for both of them. So I would, I would prefer McMillan this week.

Yeah, I see a little rainy, rainy on Sunday Night Football.

It should easily be McMillan.

Right.

But yeah, I don't know, man. That second half was—

Coker's going to be out. So it should be, it should be a lot of McMillan this week.

Well, we don't, we just know that Jalen Coker didn't practice Wednesday. He hasn't been ruled out yet.

Correct. Yeah. I think he'll be out. Justin Jefferson considered day to day, did not practice on Wednesday. And then Jalen Coker, like you said, didn't practice on Wednesday either. But that's all we have by way of news. Not too much today. Let's jump into the starts.

Starts of the week brought to you by Apple Card.

All right, boys.

I'll kick it off here at the wide receiver position. Teteroa McMillan.

Okay.

I see what we're doing.

Is that really what it is? Yes. Okay.

Yes, it is.

You really slow played your excitement for him in the last segment.

Yeah.

I kind of like that guy this week. It was a little lead in. Look.

No, but seriously, play him.

Teteroa McMillan. People are very disappointed.

I am very disappointed.

Yeah. And I get it. But the reason you're disappointed is because he's, he's a really good player and he's not showing it. The utilization has still been pretty good. 23% first read target share. He's had 4 red zone targets, 3 end zone targets. Those are very valuable. Unfortunately, hasn't come down with the touchdowns. This just happens. The help is in the way of the Lions pass defense. 29th in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers, 29th in receptions allowed, 29th in receiving yards allowed there. They are a great matchup. And Tedderow and McMillan, I think what's happened is Jalen Coker looks awesome.

Yeah.

And so now we have to hate Tedderow and McMillan and we don't.

No, no, no, no.

But I'm saying as a people, as a people, that's the vibe that I'm getting. I think I see that out there. I see like, because I think maybe I think Jalen Coker is better than Tedderow and McMillan. Now people are like crapping all over Ted like he's bad. He's not a bad wide receiver. He's all alone. It's a perfect matchup. I can't imagine not starting him again. Pay attention to the weather. It sucks that it's a Sunday night game for weather, but there is a world where maybe you would flip off of him. But if the weather's not prohibited—

Currently showery, overcast in Miami.

That's fine so far. Last I saw was like 5-mile-an-hour wind. That's fine.

Big dome. If that Sunday night matchup gets ruined by weather, big dome is— we're dropping the hammer on Miami.

Yeah, not going to be ruined for Jahmyr Gibbs, he'll be fine, Mike.

Maybe.

Well, and the league leader in passing yards, Bryce Young.

This is not a dome problem. This is an El Niño problem. It's a super El Niño year. You building domes just for one, like, 100-year event?

Yeah, I am.

Yeah, for sure.

Super El Niño doesn't happen.

Because in 100 years from now, when my great-grandchildren are starting putting their fantasy lineups in, you want them to be prepared. I want them to know that, that It started here. Great-great-grandpa started right here.

Great-great-grandpa was soft.

He liked a roof.

He liked a roof.

If he liked anything.

Let me guess. You have a roof on your house too? Yeah. Most of them. Soft.

Soft.

Josh Downs at Washington is my start of the week at wide receiver since we're starting there. He exceeded a 30% target share and 45% air yard share in each of the last 2 games. He was my trade for one of the trade for candidates I was a big fan of yesterday that you brought up. And like his expected fantasy points in the last 2 games was very high. He just didn't land on the opportunity share. I think it's going to happen this week. Washington is a great matchup, dead last in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. So when I say great matchup, I mean the greatest.

His first read targets are off the chart. And it was this way last year with the Colts as well. It's like they designed plays for someone. And it's like he is the one right now with Alec Pierce gone and Keenan looking bad and Pittman gone. So it's, it's, I think Tyler Warren's awesome. Josh Downs is awesome.

Yeah.

I'm going with my trade target from yesterday. We're going with George Pickens against Houston. We got it like we're in week 3, you know, or we're in week 4. So far Houston through the air, 30th in explosive pass play rate, 30th in fantasy points allowed to opposing wide receivers. I mean, if we have another game of people just crushing Houston through the air, that you got to start changing your opinion of should we be afraid of the Houston Texans. Right now I'm not. And George, when you're talking a discrepancy between expected fantasy points and actual fantasy points, he has the second largest gap. Only Michael Wilson is underperforming.

His touchdowns are on the way.

Yes.

Yeah. Jason, where do you want to go next?

We'll go to the quarterback position and all of us Shuck Shuff Gaddish unite. Tyler Shuck is out there.

You're getting in.

Oh yeah.

I mean, I love Tyler Shuck. I wouldn't trade him to you in our dynasty league, Mike. You tried and I said no.

Well, you would have. I just, I wouldn't pay your price.

Yeah, exactly. My price is high. Monday Night Football in a dome. Fantastic. Quarterback 3 on the season. He's looked really great. And we've talked about this a lot. The Saints. The Saints are so up-tempo. You basically get an extra 5 dropbacks, like an extra drive every single game.

You don't understand how upset my son is with me right now.

Because you dropped Tyler Shuck and Mike picked him up and Mike is playing him against you.

Point number 1, I have Josh Allen.

It was me and your boy. No, we were—

Point number 2, I drafted Tyler Shuck, but then it's like, you know, you know how it gets. Like, do I want a backup quarterback or do I want a shot at a better potential tradable asset? Now he would have been the best. I mean, it was just—

It is funny that you—

Nobody wanted him from me after week 1, by the way.

Yeah.

Your team—

Especially that guy back there, Al Borland.

Your team is like—

But now I can't root for him because I'm playing— I don't want him to succeed for you.

The only squad that could be like, Tyler Shuck is my backup.

Yes. Because he's the QB3. Correct. The only person that could play else.

There's only 2 other teams I could—

Amazing for you because the only person that could ever drop Tyler Suck is the dude with Josh Allen. And now I don't get to root for the guy I like and drafted.

We rise up.

Do I get a ring if you win the title?

I'll send you a note.

Okay.

A little thank you card.

It's a good start. Sam Darnold at the Chargers or versus the Chargers. Oh boy. I talked about this. The Chargers, they, they lose a tough one again and, you know, force 5 turnovers and their reward is they go into Seattle to play a team in Seattle that lost and champions respond to losses in a different way. It's the hardest place to go play. Somehow Sam Darnold in his defeat last week, 379 and 4. I mean, finished as the QB1. Chargers defense was carved up by Kirk Cousins and Darnold at home. It just looks too juicy. Like I don't normally want to go to the Darnold level necessarily, but I think this week people have had injuries. You've dropped Drake Maye.

You've, you've— I've got a league I'm playing Sam Darnold.

It makes sense to me this week.

I dropped Kyler and because Sam Darnold was there, I'm struggling because I think it was the Drake Maye draft or I don't know. It's a safe quarterback.

It's a safe play. That's the funny thing. It's the safest play this week. There's nobody playing better than JSN right now.

Oh my goodness. That's exactly why Darnold is fine because JSN is there and he's off the charts.

Did you see the numbers?

We're like 50% of the yards again. It's ridiculous.

He has the 2nd highest fantasy points of all time through 3 weeks at wide receiver. And the number 1 of all time was like, I think, I think 2000 Marvin Harrison.

Yeah.

Yeah. Not the junior.

Wait, what?

But yeah, Sam Darnold's the guy.

All right. I'm going Trevor Lawrence against the Cincinnati Bengals. Yes. The defense has improved, but we want game environments. How about tied for the highest over-under the week? We got 51.5, not just a 50. We have surpassed it. So people are looking at Trevor Lawrence where he was an awesome week 1, very, very down in week 2 against Denver. And then he, he wasn't a top 12 guy against New England, but it was still good numbers. Don't lose the faith in Trevor Lawrence this week.

All right, Jason, what about your running back?

My running back, we're going Tootin'. Baysell Tootin'. A juicy one in Cincinnati. He's the running back He was a running back 11 last week on 17 opportunities. The, the Jacksonville offense is just cooking right now. And I really think that they have the way that they've talked about him, the way they've utilized him. I think Breece Hall too. Now try to trade for him in a couple places. He looks like he's going to be the dude. The Bengals defense has gotten better. They're improved. But if you look a little deeper, they're still giving up high rushing yards. rates of explosive plays. And that's what Tuton, you know, has, has in his wheelhouse is he ranks 2nd among all running backs in rush success rate and 1st in those plays reaching 15 miles an hour more than Gibbs. He's very explosive. So I think the matchup is okay. And I can't fathom benching Breece Hall-Tuton.

And I'm going from the waiver wire right into your starting lineup. We got Braelon Allen. It's a one week as of right now. We've seen one game with Braelon without Breece. And it was 16 opportunities that included 5 targets and 81 total yards. And it's the matchup. It is juicy. Chicago, 29th in EPA per rush allowed. So this is— and I expect a heavy, heavy dose of the run game as opposed— like Geno was awesome last week. I think that this week with the Jets against Chicago, they're going to be on the ground.

Aaron Jones against Miami is my pick this week. Jordan Mason on injury reserve. Okay. Yeah. No, I'll take the old man voice for Aaron Jones. Look, he's been a high-end RB2 since the move of Jordan Mason to IR. The last 2 weeks, 80% of snaps, 50% of the total rush attempts and targets. Miami's 30th against running backs. It's a 10.5-point favorite Minnesota team that should be running the ball all day.

Yep.

You screwed it up because you were like, I'm going first and I'm going with the position.

I'm going to go with—

You messed yourself up.

A New Orleans stack. I'm going to keep starting Juwan Johnson every week right now. He's been fantastic. You know, against the Falcons, he's the tight end 4 through 3 weeks averaging 12.9 fantasy points per week. He's very involved. He's tied with Trey McBride for the league lead in in-zone targets, second most red zone targets. I mean, it's perfect. And Atlanta's 26th in fantasy points allowed to tight ends. You know, this was one of our, you know, most targeted like late round guys, week 1 pickup. Right now it looks like he's a weekly start. Maybe that changes when Jordan Tyson, you know, gets off of IR, which could be as soon as this week, but he's, he's on IR right now or as soon as next week. So yeah, keep starting Juwan Johnson.

And I'm going with Tyler Warren. Josh Downs is a great play, but I think Tyler Warren is as well. We're going to attack Washington throughout the entirety of the season. And, you know, even though week 1 felt not great, he is the only tight ends with 8.5 fantasy points in each of the 3 weeks. McBride, Kelce, Jiwonson, and Tyler Warren. It's been, it's been quietly okay. And Washington is 31st in schedule just to points to the position there. You'll be playing tight ends, tight ends against them all year.

All right. I'm going with—

oh, okay. We got to get also got to get that jersey updated.

Darren Waller against Detroit on Sunday night.

Annual update of Darren Waller's jersey.

That's right. I mean, he can probably just do like a hue change on that. I think that's what we did last time to get it from Miami to the Carolina blue. I think we can pull that off. The snap shares, they're going up.

It's you.

Yeah. I mean, Darren Waller, Detroit, we talked about it Sunday night game, high over-under. Jalen Coker could be out. You know, the snaps drop at 51% last week. Red zone target. Lions have been bleeding points to the tight end position. Listen to this. Saints tight ends, 2 of them in week 1. Bills tight ends, 2 of them in week 2 touchdowns. Jets tight ends, 2 touchdowns last week.

I mean, 2 a week.

I'm having a real problem here because I, I think the breakout is coming for Tucker Kraft at some point.

It is.

But I'm sitting here staring down Darren Waller versus Tucker Kraft this week and having a harder time by the minute deciding about what I want to do with that decision. So I think Waller is going to be especially, you know, Detroit's putting points up.

I mean, Coker is out. Yeah. I don't know how you wouldn't play. I know the Wallers there.

I know. I, plus I feel like if I did that and benched Tucker Kraft, I could force the breakout because it would definitely happen then.

Ah.

It would be under my control. But there you go. That was Starts of the Week brought to you by Apple Card. Apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at applecard.com. We're taking a break and then we'll jump into the forecast. Let's do it.

Fantasy Forecast presented by PrizePicks. All right.

We have a London game, guys. You ready to get up at 6:30? You want to watch a little early football, Mike?

Boo.

Not really.

Yeah. The Colts at 1-2 take on the Commanders.

Even less now.

1-2.

There's going to be fantasy goodness in this one.

Yeah. Indy -3.5, over-under 47.5. That's a nice number. Not bad. And a couple of teams that I don't know. I don't know about either one of them, to be honest. You know, you said through 3 weeks we get an idea of who these teams are. I mean, what are your thoughts? I mean, Daniel Jones so far, I don't know that I've been in love with what I've seen so far from Daniel Jones.

No. So far Daniel Jones. is looking—

It was Baltimore, Kansas City, Houston. So you can say that's a gauntlet.

I wouldn't—

I don't think he's looked terrible, but it's not unlike when he had a great year for the Giants and got the extension and then he turned into a pumpkin. And then he was playing great last year.

And I mean, an Achilles injury is not a joke. No, he is a mobile quarterback. That was one of his superpowers. 9 fantasy points, 11 fantasy points, and 7. Considering we have 2 Colts receivers that are starts of the week, you know, pass catchers in Warren and Downs, the fact that Daniel Jones can't surpass 12 fantasy points, not helpful. So I hope he can get it done. The matchup is great. I just think these are 2 teams that I've been like, I expected the Colts to look a little better than they have. And I expected the Commanders honestly to look worse than they have. And here we are. So Mariota last week, it was awesome. 20 fantasy points, threw for 3 touchdowns.

Can definitely stream him.

Yeah, I think this week you can. Jonathan Taylor, of course you're playing him. And we've talked about Downs and Warren. So flipping to the other side.

Well, honestly, you can play Keenan too.

Can you?

Yes. He's going to—

But do you want to?

Not necessarily.

But I mean, yeah, he had 9 targets last week. I think Mike's right.

You can, Again. Yeah. And he scored last week. We like the other guys more. I'm just saying. And in certain, like if you're in a 14-teamer, then Keenan Allen feels like about as good of a flex start as you'll get.

On the running back room for the Commanders, Ja'Kory Crosby, Merritt, last week, if you, if you watch the game. So he had 19 attempts on the ground that equated to 3.5 yards per carry. 36 yards. That's 1.9 a carry. That part was bad. The part that was good is he had a 50-plus-yard touchdown run called back on an irrelevant illegal formation that had nothing to do with the play. So he did make a big play that didn't count.

He was almost my start of the week. I was between Beshaltun and Ja'Korey Crosby.

And Bill?

Yeah. And Bill, huh?

I don't have it anymore.

Oh, you don't have it. Come on. But yeah, I mean, he's getting the opportunity.

There it is. That's why.

Yeah.

But 20 opportunities last week. And that was, that was against Seattle. Seattle's a very difficult team to run the ball on. And so you don't expect them to be great. It's not like their other options were great and Bill was bad. Now you have Rashad White dealing with an injury. I don't know if he's going to play this week. They go out and sign Austin Ekeler, which leads me to believe maybe Rashad White's shoulder is more serious. I think Bill gets a lot of work in this game. And against the Colts, you're fine. I mean, that's, that's a great matchup.

I agree.

Bounce back week for McLaurin last week. Almost did it 2 weeks ago when Jason made him a start of the week. He just had a couple of almost touchdowns. Last week he got into the end zone, had 9 more targets. The last 2 weeks have been great with the target share and 6 catches, 77 yards. I'd certainly prefer him over like Diggs or anybody else in that passing offense.

The hard part for Diggs is this is actually very juicy. In terms of, because he's playing the slot, you know what, almost 60% of the time and the Colts are to my numbers the 2nd most vulnerable team against the slot wide receiver. But the Mariota factor makes it more difficult to trust. But Diggs should be great in this matchup.

Yeah, we haven't seen the, you know, the snap count rise to a level where we'd be you know, all about Antonio Williams. So I think that's kind of cooled off.

Yeah. He feels like an injury or next year, injury away or a next year play.

The New England Patriots back in the United States here, they're 1-2. They take on the 3-0 Buffalo Bills. So you've had a hard start. Head to Buffalo. Good luck with that, man. The highest implied point total on the week is the Buffalo 27.5. This game is Buffalo -6.5, over-under 48.5. You know, I think the most difficult thing to get your confidence back is to travel to your division rival's home field and face, you know, Josh Allen, who is going to put points up. It's going to put you in a position to do everything that— like, if I wanted to help Drake Maye, I'd want to run the football and be efficient and then play good defense and then let him win the game in, you know, by not having to do everything. And this is a game where at some point it's likely Drake Maye has to try to put the team on his shoulders and do more. It's just a shaky situation.

And, you know, how do you, Andy, how do you feel about the 21 points implied for the Patriots? Like, feels high. They can, they get to 21.

Well, I think this is just all based on how atrocious the Bills defense has been. I mean, the Bills last week, they did win the game. But I mean, on the year, 24th against running or quarterbacks, 29th against running backs, 28th against wideouts. I am a little surprised at that. But, you know, I think part of the problem is, is when we're like, like, just tell me the story of the Patriots scoring points.

That's what I mean.

You don't know who any main characters are in this book. Like, there are none.

Drayveon Henderson rips off a long touchdown.

The end?

It's somewhere.

Is that the end of the story?

Yes.

Oh, that's the story. Yeah. 3 times to get to 21 points.

Oh man. I don't know. Is there a pass interference penalty near the end zone that Rhamondre can take advantage of? It really does feel difficult to see them scoring. They've just been an inept offense.

How do we not have like a 10-target game for Romeo Doubs who you paid all this money to? We haven't had that at all.

Weird.

You've got Mack Hollins leading the team in target share. You've got a tandem of running backs that makes the other— each makes the other irrelevant, sort of. If I had to start one, I'd still start Rhamondre.

But I have, I have them back to back in my rankings.

But I mean, I don't care if you want to go the other way.

Yeah. And I think it's really a matter of like, if, if you're the underdog in a matchup, 6 points for you. If you're the underdog in a matchup, throw Tre'Vion Henderson out there for the idea that he gets a big blowup game. The more likely leader in fantasy points is Rhamondre, but probably without a very high ceiling. I don't love playing either. The matchup is great. The over-under is good. The Bills aren't good.

Do you start a Patriot?

I think in most leagues you're going to have Rhamondre or Travion Henderson on rosters where you're going to start them. Yes. It's, you know, it's not like they are shoo-in top 15 running backs by any means. But in today's NFL, you're probably needing to start them.

Josh Allen.

Oh, here's a good question. Patriots running back or Ollie Gordon?

I mean, I play Ollie Gordon.

I would play—

For the chance at something like, like 20 carries. We don't, we don't know if Jaylen Wright's going to play this week for Miami. So there's just no world I wouldn't try Gordon.

I would go with the Patriots. I would go with the Patriots over both of them. Yeah.

Yeah. You guys are like, I've picked up on that.

We talk about like, how are the Patriots going to score 20 points? But against Minnesota, how are the Dolphins going to score 3?

Yeah.

Okay.

Strong point. I kind of put the Minnesota part out of my mind for a second and was just focusing on workload. Yeah, I was going to accuse you guys of being anti-Ollie, but I think you're pro-Vikings.

That is correct.

James Cook and Allen, of course you play them. Dalton Kincaid, get him back out there. See if we— it will be a bit of a— like you want to preview a potential storyline for next week. A disappointing Kincaid game will put you in the position of saying same old, same old. Or, you know, I feel like it's an important one.

This is a very tough matchup. I mean, the New England against tight ends is number one. Yeah, they're number one. They don't give up a lot of points against tight ends, 4.5 points per game on average.

So which they've played, I mean, they've played some tough teams, right? I mean, they are like some tough tight ends. They stopped Kelce, right? That was one of their games. Am I misremembering their schedule? Baltimore?

Yeah, you are misremembering. You had Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Jacksonville.

Yeah, I think I was a matchup before. So they Those are not any big tight ends that they faced.

The, the PrizePicks projection for Dalton Kincaid's at 53.5 receiving yards.

Oh, that's not bad.

That's, that's only ahead of him is Bowers, McBride, Kelce.

So because he's a big play guy.

Yeah. The projections are still there. I'm still playing Dalton Kincaid with confidence, even if—

Would you play Waller or Kincaid? Oh, if you had the decision.

Oh my gosh.

Get Coker's out.

That's such a firestorm of a perfect situation for Darren Waller that I think I'm still going to play Kincaid, but I understand that.

What do you guys think about DJ Moore as a trade-for candidate?

I like that.

He's been very, very involved.

Yeah.

And he got hurt.

10 targets. I believe that he is going to be there. Like, if we do, I'm sure we will soon do like a redraft. We usually do early in the year where we draft people over. I doubt we get to where DJ Moore would go, but he would be significantly higher to me. The way he has looked this year, the involvement in the offense, I am fully bought in that DJ Moore will be the primary wide receiver for a great team. And I think at the end of the year, you could look back and say, this is like a top 10 wide receiver. That's really bullish. And it feels weird because last we had the injury game where he hurt his shoulder and went out with a I believe he had, I'm saying zero, negative 0.1 fantasy points. And so that's going to really, it's going to bring down your total average. It's going to bring down the manager's feelings about them. But he comes back with the injured shoulder, gets 10 targets. I really like DJ Moore.

I'm going to be extra transparent here to my own detriment, but I want to have the discussion because I think it benefits the listenership. I've really had the long thought process and maybe this is just my own problem because I can't just stay Pat with a great team. But I've had the thought process of like, is— and we didn't bring him up on the tradeaway candidate yesterday, but Davante Adams is having the best 3-game start of his career. He's an older wide receiver. He is a compelling— like, if you're offering him around, that's a compelling player. And I've had the thought about how do I view DJ Moore? I hate this so much. Why do you hate this?

I hate this because what you're saying is that you're considering trying to offer Davante Adams for DJ Moore and something else.

Well, and plus, he would have to be worth plus that move with where the market is right now. Davante Adams is worth more.

I mean, I've had the thought and then, you know, I have Josh Allen.

Yeah.

You know, you know the math on that. And it's like, it's really, it's always going no matter how, like if you think we're smart, If you think we're dumb, whatever. No matter who you are, you can have it in your mind that you're going to trade a player that's, that's like a great trade away candidate. But if they've played 3 amazing games in a row, I don't think there's a soul out there that doesn't feel like, what if it keeps going? Like Adams has been that good. What if Puka has surgery? All these things going on.

Yeah. What if he goes out and plays this week and then it's re-aggravated and, and I mean, that's, that's a humongous deal.

So, so it has crossed my mind, like those 2 players, I feel like DJ Moore is a trade for candidate. I feel like Davante Adams is probably, he's probably going to maintain value throughout the year, but he's probably not going to be what he is right this moment.

No, not what he is right now.

Where he's, I mean, I mean, Davante Adams, let me see where he is on the year. He's the wide receiver 6.

He's been insanely good.

Yeah. 195, 137 yards these last 2 games.

I don't mind the thought process.

I do.

I think Adams is more valuable at the end of the year.

That, I mean, that DJ Moore. Yeah. And DJ Moore has dealt with the injury already. And there's some concerns about, you know, Josh Allen hasn't needed a go-to guy since the Diggs years. So sorry for the detour there, but no, no, that's just a thought process.

Whatever you do, I just hope it's the wrong decision.

It could be.

And it's worth remembering, you know, that I've made wrong decisions lots of times. No, last year, Davante Adams was the wide receiver 8. And Puka played. So yeah, no, it's not like Puka— Puka coming back destroys—

He's trying to talk me out of trying to pursue this.

Puka coming back.

That's where I'm with it.

Absolutely destroys the Terrence Ferguson, Tyler Higbee.

But not Adams. But not Adams. No, not Adams.

There's 2 valuable pieces for the Rams.

And one thing to remember is Puka's return. The reason he didn't play is he said his explosiveness wasn't there. So we still need— when he plays, we still need to know that he's 100% Puka, right? You don't want half Puka.

I would take half Puka.

Yeah, that would be pretty good.

Outscore most wide receivers.

The New York Jets in our next matchup at 1-2 taking on the Chicago Bears with the big Monday night victory making Philly look silly. The Vegas line, Chicago minus 3.5, over-under 43.5. You know, the Jets have been a competent team this year, which is great because competence at quarterback means Relevance for Garrett Wilson. Maybe Kenyan Sadiq continues in ascent. He was limited in practice with a back injury, which I would guess happened when he laid out and looked in pain at the end of that catch. But the Bears, Case Keenum, we think it'll be Case Keenum.

Think, think so.

Caleb Williams was getting, you know, getting better every day.

They have said they know who the quarterback is. But they won't tell.

I was a little confused because I saw that like the locker room stuff with Case Keenum.

Oh, his little, what, the speech, the game before speech?

Which was awesome. The speech was great. But then like, like Caleb didn't play, right?

Are you talking about the robe?

The robe.

But he clearly did a little postgame shower. He's in the robe.

Well, you could just because you're not playing. I mean, you might get a little dewy. Okay.

Okay. Just thought it was weird and it was a really nice robe. I don't feel like we all got that robe.

You think it's weird that a guy's like, hey, you know what I could be wearing right now?

No, the robe.

Of luxurious spa quality robe.

You got to go take shower time from the guys that, that I thought they have showers for everybody at a professional facility.

They're not sharing one leaky bucket.

This is the question. Was he in pads? No. So he was just in normal regular clothes at a game and then was like, yes, man. Like, that is weird. We'll go change into a robe.

It's weird, but also it's a robe, Jason.

Oh, it's a robe.

We all want to wear robes.

I wear a robe every morning. It's a great, it's a great life.

We all want to wear— okay.

I'm not going to dunk on a guy for wanting to wear a luxurious robe.

Okay. All right. Start-sit decisions. Mike, you brought up Braylon Allen.

Yep.

His PrizePicks projections at 70.5 rushing receiving yards. That's awesome.

I mean, yeah, we will take that. That is, uh, we do have, so I'm, I'm very bullish for this week in particular. We have popular start-sit questions that are funny.

Get that nasty button ready.

I'll go to you, Jason.

Yeah.

Braylon Allen or spotlight or Omari and Hampton.

Omari and Hampton.

That's the wrong answer, but you like, they're playing Seattle, right? Yeah. At Seattle.

You're going to play.

You're going to play.

They just had 1.9 a carry for, for JCM, for the guy who's getting half the snaps of JCM.

Yeah. I will absolutely still start Omari Hampton in that situation.

Okay. How about— Clip that. We're just going to keep the spotlight the whole time.

No, it's any Hampton we need to have.

Okay. And then Judkins.

I would play Braylon Allen.

Okay.

Yeah.

That one's That one's easy for me. DeAndre Swift, you know, it's been a great start to the season. You have to play him on the other side. We'll see when Breece Hall comes back or if you get Braylon Allen for more than one week. I'm avoiding the toughest part of this entire matchup right now. Garrett Wilson, play him. How do you feel about Sadiq? Like after last week's breakout, do you like, where is he in your weekly rankings relative to the Dalton Schultz's of the world and things like that?

Let me go have a peek.

7 for 105 and a touchdown last week with a 43-yard catch.

Yeah, I mean, I've got Sadiq right now.

You got all the tight ends right now, but go on.

I don't mean on my roster. I mean, in my weekly rankings, he's at tight end 11, which—

I'm at 13.

Yeah, it's like, you know, you can start him. The Bears are usually a little bit more of a pass funnel team. Not that they're weak against tight ends, but I think that the way that they're using Sadiq is a little bit more like a wide receiver. So it'll be interesting. I think you can throw him out there and start him. You know, his numbers have gone up, his utilization, his involvement. This is a player who missed, you know, pretty much camp and preseason with injury. So getting him involved, I think, will be a progression. And we've already kind of seen it. And it's been forced with some of the injuries around him. My— the latest I saw, I don't expect Adonai Mitchell to be there yet. Omar Cooper Jr. is on IR. So yeah, I mean, I think, I think Kenyan Sadiq is probably the wide receiver 2 for this team right now.

What do you do with the pass catchers?

So I would say Burden. Burden is in. Like assuming it's Case Keenum, he hyper-targeted Luther Burden. I'm going to play him with confidence. After that, the confidence goes away.

We get the spotlight for Mike here with the Loveland decision.

Okay. Give me some questions. Go ahead.

Yeah. So Mr. Loveland.

Mr. Loveland.

How about Kenyan Sadiq or Loveland?

That is so dirty.

Dirty.

Oh, that's such a good question.

My rankings have Kenyan Sadiq ahead.

Harold Fannon Jr. after 9 targets or Colston Loveland?

Fannon.

Why is Loveland doing so much cardio and not getting enough?

I don't know.

Enough action. He's got 84% of snaps, 78% of routes.

I don't know. Ben Jones.

You can get him real cheap right now if you believe in the long-term return to relevance, which you don't.

No.

Well.

Or you're scared.

I'm scared. Yes. It's definitely worth some— there's going to be some squads where you want to take the chance that He bounces back, but I still feel like there's no world where he doesn't have monster games coming up.

Would you rather have Waller or him rest of season?

Loveland.

You'd be Loveland, right?

Yeah, it would definitely be Loveland. I think that Loveland will still for sure have big, massive week-winning games. The one thing I am far more skeptical on now is that he will have the consistency that you hoped for as a number one target for your team.

Yeah, that part is, and you don't get quite the answers you want even waiting weeks right now because Caleb's not there.

Yeah.

So you just said you're playing Burden because Keenum proved he could hyper-target him. We didn't see enough this year, I think.

So Khalif Raymond.

I, if you, if Raymond will probably—

if you play him, you will die.

He will outscore Loveland.

Everyone loves Raymond.

Hmm.

Raymond.

Raymond.

All right. We'll take a break. We'll come back with some more matchups. It's a good Brad Garrett, Mike. That's very good. Jacksonville 2-1 taking on the 2-1 Bengals. This is fun. I mean, these are 2 very good teams and one of them is going to be .500 after this. Plus pretty, 2 pretty ferocious cats.

If you, I mean, Kyle has given us the cat stats.

Okay.

So let's have them.

Cat stats, a cat fight.

So the, in terms of size, I think we know that it's clearly the Bengal.

The Bengal tiger's got to be bigger by a lot.

By a lot. Up to £350 for a Jaguar, £700 for a Bengal.

The, the bite force. Which I have not researched these numbers. This is purely on Kyle.

Underrated stat. He's— Cat stat.

Sure. The Bengals got the size, but the Jaguars got the bite force. 1,500 PSI on the bite compared to 1,050.

Let's talk speed. You got a Bengal can only get up to about 40 miles an hour.

Slowpoke.

Only. While a Jaguar's up to 50. Catch me if you can.

Can't.

Thank you. So who wins in a fight?

The tiger.

The Bengal. Yeah. We tried to make it compelling that the Bengal would win.

Wow. There you go.

My goodness.

Trevor Lawrence, your start of the week. Bayshawn Tuton-Jason, your start of the week.

Yeah, we want in on this game.

And Parker Washington, your start of every week. Play him for Jacksonville.

Oh man.

I— the Brian Thomas Jr., Michael or Marvin Harrison Jr. Like if you are a rookie from 3 years ago with a junior in your name, you're going to be talked about at the trade deadline this year because there's more rumors about BTJ. We had rumors about him going to San Francisco last year. They have reemerged San Francisco as a potential destination, which if you want to say, hey, how do you save your career? You can go to San Francisco.

Yeah.

Get a good injury severance. I know that's true. Jacoby Myers is a, is a flexible player this week. And then, you know, the nice thing about the Cincinnati Bengals, it's really easy each week. Joe Burrow, Chase Brown, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins. And log out, right?

Yeah. I mean, there's no team ever easier than the Bengals. You have to start all of them.

I mean, it's kind of every week. It's like Dallas. And they're very similar. I mean, you've got play Pickens, play CeeDee, play Javonte.

Would you rather play Jacoby Myers or Keenan Allen?

Jacoby. I want, I want this game environment. I want a 51.5-point over-under, 2 great offenses and the chance for 70 points to be scored in a game.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. So, you know, keep that in mind.

And you don't have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to watch them.

Yeah. Well, there are people, Jason, that don't have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to watch it.

Lucky.

It's our job.

But then they have to stay up until midnight for Sunday football.

And when we get done with our job, no matter how hard it is, we take a shower.

No matter how easy.

No, when I, my, when my contractors get done working on my house, I take a shower.

Yes.

Perfect. I can't believe we're so focused on a man that just wants to be clean. How clean and comfy. You don't want to be clean and comfy?

It's weird, man.

I earned that shower.

What? What? I don't understand that.

No, I don't know. I'm just having fun with it. Get, get healthy, Caleb. Yeah. Come back and score 59 points.

He's working on his health, his health and his wellness. He's staying healthy. Zen in his robe.

Yeah.

Andy can give him all the guff. He's one of his 3 My Guys. Obviously loves Caleb.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'm allowed. I have a license to absolutely make fun of him. All right. The Cardinals 1-2 taking on the 2-1 New York Giants. Arizona favored on the road by 2.5. That is your— if you want to check in on the Jameis Winston meter, I didn't know that until just now.

That's crazy.

The over-under is 44.5. But I have— that's why you traded for McCarthy.

I have gone so back and forth on this one and been thoroughly convinced that both teams are going to figure out how to lose. But it's like both of their defenses are not great right now. The Giants lost one of their superstars in Brian Burns, but the Cardinals can't get pressure. Like, and if you can't get pressure on Jameis, he will figure it out. Like, he's not that incompetent that if there's no pass rush coming, he will, he will find Malik Nabers. But the Cardinals, you're like, well, but the Cardinals offense with Jacoby, how do they not outscore the Giants? It's, it's a crazy game.

I mean, 44.5 is not a lot.

Jeremiah Love is going to be the story of this game. I mean, he should get pretty much all of the work like he did last week. They talked about it. They said it was just a hot hand, but his hand is going to be on fire here. The matchup is great. And the fact that you lost Ryan Burns, your defense is beat up. That's usually where you beat the Giants is on the ground. I think that Jeremiah Love, you know, he could be the running back 5 on the week easy.

Yeah. I think this is a very significant Vegas line to tell you the story of this game. Like Winston is statistically the worst quarterback in EPA per play in the league so far.

It does not give me any confidence statistically and visually.

Visually speaking, he's the worst. And, you know, for the team to go trade for McCarthy, who is not exactly headline-making talent, right? So, so far. But that gives me— I like have no confidence in anybody but Scat on the Detroit— on the New York side.

Yeah.

I mean, the Scat-a-Boo start should be good. They're going to give him a billion opportunities.

So how far down are you with Malik? Malik or Terry McLaurin?

Let me, let me see. I think it's Terry. No, I think it's definitely Terry, actually.

I think it's Malik here. Last week was, you know, that crazy weather game. What do you have, like 30 yards but 5 targets? The Arizona Cardinals coming to town, I think, will be a salve for Malik. And I expect Malik to have 10 targets. And if you give Malik 10 targets and you're not in some kind of crazy stormy game against the Cardinals, There's a good chance that he has a big play.

Are you positive that he's the same guy right now when, you know, there was an expectation even if Jackson Dart was here that the beginning part of this season would start slower, right?

I always thought that the beginning part of the season, I mean, this is the normal ramp up that is usual for coming off of an ACL. You know, we said when you drafted him that it would be a slow start, like you said, even with Jackson Dart. I think the Cardinals defense is, is just the difference here. Will they be able to tackle him? I mean, their number one corner, Will Johnson, is gone now. So who's, who's guarding him? Maybe Budda Baker can try to break his ribs like he did Mike Evans, but—

Oh, take it easy.

He also missed an easy tackle on Deebo and let him score an 80-yard touchdown. To your point about, you know, a big play. But yeah, I don't, I don't personally like, I, I have Nabers quite a, quite a ways down the list. Like I'd play Josh Downs, my start of the week over Malik Nabers.

He's still in my top 24.

I'd play Burton, who was, I'd play Burton, I'd play Golden.

Here's, here's the most interesting one.

He's at 25 for me.

Here's the most, he's at 22 for me. So we're not, we're not too far apart. But the most interesting one is on the other side of the field, Michael Wilson.

Oh, easy.

Coming off of 17 targets.

Yeah, easy Michael Wilson. I mean, the Cardinals are favored in this one. They have the better quarterback by a wide margin. I mean, I'm taking the quarterback. I don't trust Jameis at all right now.

Yeah, I, I think he's going to be okay.

He seems like he's not taking football very seriously.

I think he is. I think he'll be okay in this game.

He's so ready to be a broadcaster.

He's going to be an awesome commentator or broadcaster wherever he's talking. I'll be watching.

He's got to be the sideline dude.

Oh yeah.

I don't think you can trust him to talk for the entire game. I think you need him to have his select moments, the sideline, the pregame, the postgame.

I think he could be a color commentator.

Oh man.

No, that's too much.

No way.

What about like what Booger did?

That's, that was sideline. He rode the Booger Mobile. You can get a Winston Mobile. That's fine.

He was actually the color commentator and then we were like, we got to get this out of the booth.

Yeah.

And then they put him in the Booger Mobile and we're like, we got to get him out of this Booger Mobile. There is nothing wrong.

Get back to college, Booger. with having a role to play. And I think Winston's role in the media will be amazing for the next 20 years. But seems like we have a difference of opinion though. I very much believe Arizona wins this football game.

I saw—

and I believe their offense is much better than the Giants in this game.

I saw a stat. I don't have it in front of me. Don't know where it came from. Don't know the specific stat, but I don't even know the stat.

Stat itself is actually a mystery to me.

But it was Someone find that. It was first read. It was first read targets for Michael Wilson.

What could I be thinking?

For Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. And they were shocking. It was shockingly close.

For career?

No, no, no. I think it was last week only. And you look at 17 targets for Michael Wilson. So it was like first read. They looked—

So he looked at Marvin. He was like, nope.

Nope.

Like an active no.

Yeah. We're trying, man. You're not.

Does he just kind of giggle when he looks over and he's like, oh, I think it might just be— got you again, Mike.

I think it might be a fake from the get-go. It's like, it's really just to make defenders go, I'm totally looking at this side of the field.

Psych!

Michael Wilson. First read target share. No, no. The stat that you know where it came from or where it's gone. Is this the whole—

this was like last week.

Yeah, I thought that's what he was talking about.

That is what I was talking about.

Yeah.

45% for Michael Wilson.

You didn't know where it came from, where it was from.

It would have been fun. Or it would have been super fun.

Here's a stat I made up.

But think about how fun that is.

If it was real.

I'm going to find what I was looking at.

Well, we have to do because the numbers that we have is 45%.

I know, but I want to know.

45% Michael Wilson, 18% Trey McBride. McBride, 15% Marvin Harrison. I will say this, like I did—

Did you get hit by one of those satire accounts again?

We'll find out. We'll find out.

I did disagree with one thing you said yesterday about Michael Wilson, which was like this contention that he's never going to be the first receiving target for Arizona. I think that there's a place where Michael Wilson and Trey McBride really share that at the tippy top of the team's depth chart. And I found it. Michael Wilson, like the targets last week told me he could be a number one target.

Yeah, for sure. I found what I was looking at and it was not a— it was a very great account from Jared Smola. This is why when I said I don't remember what I say, I prefaced it properly because I was letting everybody know I don't know what I'm about to talk about.

You should have shared it. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, no, because we got to the truth here. That's what we do.

Right. The winding road.

It was a real close first read targets between Michael Wilson and Trey McBride.

Oh.

Marvin Harrison was down to 9%. So it's basically like, yeah, the offense is not running. They do not care about getting Marvin Harrison.

Gotcha.

But yeah, I think, well, I think Wilson is a definitively like great start every week. And obviously you play McBride.

And a very good wide receiver. And he's very Parker Washington. It turns out that You know, we—

when you're good, you're good.

The fantasy time machine where we had who's this year's Michael Wilson.

Right. It's Parker.

No, it's Michael Wilson.

Oh yeah. That, that often happens of like, who is the JSN?

Yeah. We just don't believe—

I, I couldn't believe that JSN could have a more perfect season than last year. It just, it was not statistically an outcome that could ever happen. And he's like, yes, I can. Yes, actually I can.

I like somebody who was saying that this year's JSN is Brock Bowers. And I'm like, I, Based on what I saw in that game, you might be right. Like Brock Bowers, I played against him last week. I was terrified on every play and every play is open and there's no way to cover him. That's, it's a cheat code.

It was the old Kelce games where you're like, you know, they're going to throw the ball to Travis Kelce. Why is no one guarding him?

You can't guard a tight end that's like that. That's the truth. Who guards him? Budda Baker? You bring the safety down to guard him?

It's just so—

because a linebacker can't guard him and you don't line up a corner against them because they're too small.

Like anecdotally, maybe it's Not true, but what I was seeing of like the, it's like short stuff where he's kind of leaking out a little bit later and then it's genuinely— the defense is like, oh, he did it again.

It's not possible.

Not Brock. You can't do that again. We're not going to. And then the next play, slow, just leak out, turn around.

And it's funny because I've never— I mean, when have you ever had a— you've had these lockdown corners, you know, Patrick Surtain goes up against somebody, they get one catch. When have you had one of the elite of the elite tight ends go into a game and then it's like, we just shut him down. I can't remember. Kelce never got shut down.

Not in his day.

Not in his day.

Yeah.

McBride never gets shut down. They just, they're too big.

Oh, that McBride face mask. It wasn't a stiff arm. It was a spike. It was, he football spiked a human.

Yeah.

It was awesome.

It was amazing. All right. We got to move on. The Rams 1-2 taking on the 2-1 Eagles. Vegas line here, Rams -3 on the road. So again, that is going on the road to Philly and being favored is not common.

The 1-2 team favored on the road by 3.

Yeah. The Eagles wins this year, Commanders, Titans. So we're not proud of that yet. Over-under 43.5, very low. I mean, if you watched the Eagles defense last or offense last week and then you said, okay, let's go ahead and upgrade the defense you're playing against. And now go score. What is the— I mean, how does that happen?

They're going to need to run the ball more, which I don't know why they got away from. It was working with Saquon last week and then they put the ball in Jalen Hurts' hands and he's just not— he has looked really simple, really unspecial. He's targeting DeVonta Smith too much. And I love DeVonta Smith. I've got the Hurts-DeVonta Smith stack. But when I go back and I watch film on this team, it is just like, There are wide open players. You know, we've talked about Mekhi Lemon is getting wide, not like, oh, he's got to step on a guy. You could have thrown him the ball. It's like, did you not see the dude that no one was guarding? And then you threw to DeVonta Smith in double coverage. And I don't know, man. It's like he's not, he's not—

It's got to make AJ Brown so mad. Like, because he just wanted you to throw him the ball in triple coverage over and over again.

I'm still hopeful that they figure this out specifically with Mekhi Lemon. a rookie first-round talent, first-round pick who, you know, should get more involved, should get more, you know, connection with Jalen Hurts as time goes on. It's not going to be in this game. I mean, I can't imagine anything good for the Eagles offense against the Rams defense.

Players like Mekhi Lemon are the very hardest players in fantasy to just keep holding on your team because you kind of, when they're not producing yet, you just want to rotate through the young guys that have a good week. You know what I mean? It's like Ted Hurst is getting 75% of snaps. Well, maybe it'll be his week and then maybe it'll be Antonio Williams and then maybe it'll be this rookie or that rookie. I just think those guys are hard when you need a player. Like, I'm not saying he's not going to develop. I think he will. I just don't know when. And it's hard to keep those guys on the bench.

Yeah.

But in this game, like Saquon, sure, he ran well last week. He gets to face the 6th best rush defense that has Aaron Donald back. I have a hard time believing that it's going to be a big game for him. DeVonta Smith's dealing with the hamstring. You know, Dontavian Wicks, man, he's okay. I mean, he's okay. The, like, it's just not going to be— their implied point total is 20.

Okay. These are, and these are 2 good defenses because I think that, well, on the Eagles, on the Eagles side, I'm, I think it's very shaky. Barkley is in play just because of who he is. He's a superstar. One run can make the whole week in volume. The rest of the team very scared of, including Jalen Hurts. So would you play Jalen Hurts or Bryce Young against Detroit?

My goodness. Disgusting. I think I, I think I play Bryce. I mean, I told you, we're, are we playing against each other in the dynasty league? Wherever it is, I'm, I finally made the move where I put Shuck in above Hurts and it feels real good.

That feels like an easy move.

No, it was very easy. That's what I mean.

It was like— That one's easy. But how about Jalen Hurts or CJ Stroud against the Dallas Cowboys?

I don't, I don't like this because, you know, the answer is CJ Stroud.

Probably Hurts at home.

I think I go Hurts. I would play CJ Stroud.

Yeah, I get it. Like Jalen Hurts right now is not doing anything that you wanted for fantasy. Let's see, the last 2 weeks, he would be on pace for 348 rushing yards. Not good. 3,500 passing yards. Not good. 17 passing touchdowns. Not good.

How many rushing touchdowns?

8.5.

Okay.

Hurts or the other guy, the guy in the—

But he's on pace for 26 interceptions.

Matthew Stafford or Jalen Hurts?

Andy, what do you think?

The former MVP, last year's MVP against—

If he's getting Puka back and I get Adams, Puka, I'm playing Matthew Stafford. Oof.

Good luck.

Sorry, everybody.

Okay.

This one's been hard.

Jalen Hurts or Drake May?

Jalen Hurts.

Okay. We did it. We got Jalen Hurts in the lineup.

Yeah. Play Kyren, play Puka and Adams if Puka's active. If Puka's not active, Mumfield is the desperation there or the Tyler Higbee option. On the other, you know, you don't have Goedert. He's not practicing. Wicks is desperation. Lamin is desperation. DeVonta Smith, if he's active, you play him. But it's not a high-scoring projected game. There's supposed to be a little bit of rain, a little bit of wind, maybe some water and heart. I don't know.

Earth.

The Green Bay Packers at 1-2 take on the 0-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Okay. One win between these 2 teams and both fan bases are positive they're going to lose the game. Green Bay minus 3.5, over-under 38.5. We may all lose with that over-under. That's what that tells me. Jaylen Daniels, undrafted free agent out of Kansas, will get the start. Won the backup role in Tampa. And yeah, that's who he starts for, Tampa. Bucky Irving was limited with a glute on Wednesday after they said he's got nothing wrong.

They literally said he will not be on the injury report. And then gotcha, liars.

But yeah, both of these fan bases, like, let me go to the source here. Al Borland, as a Green Bay Packer fan, confidence in the running game right now?

0%.

0%. If you had to bet one guy gets more than 8 carries, would you make that bet? One of the 3, Brooks, Lloyd, Johnson.

Are you asking Al or us?

I'm asking you now.

I do think that they will. There's been a lot of talk. I mean, first of all, I don't expect that the Tampa Bay offense is going to do a ton. So there's been so much talk this week from the Packers camp about needing to run the ball more even when it's failing because it's going to fail.

And I love that that's the context because it's really, it's really stating the exact state of affairs.

Yeah. But it's like they, they want to, you know, they talked about it being like a body shot in boxing where it's just, you've got to keep hitting them over and over and you've got to stay committed to it.

When you get a bunch of 3rd and 8, you are body shotting yourself.

Yeah, I get that. But my point is when you really are committed to the run and you want to do it all game, you still cannot if you're down a score or 2. And in this matchup against Jaylen Daniels, an undrafted free agent rookie making his first start, I, I hope that the Packers aren't going to be down 2 scores. Because that would be embarrassing for them. And if they are up or if it's, you know, in a neutral game environment, I do think they're going to be committed to handing the ball off.

But to who?

Probably Lloyd first, Caleb Johnson second.

Yeah, they came out and said that all the running backs have not had enough chances to get going. To me, that says maybe they'll pick one to get a chance to get going. Last week, neither one had over 8 opportunities. The price fix line, I think, is like 8.5 for Caleb.

I think Caleb Johnson—

I think they will give us— here's my predict. I think they'll give Caleb the ball this week.

Yes.

And it will fail miserably.

Yeah.

But good luck against Vita Vea with this talent on the offensive side. Christian Watson, Matthew Golden, play them both. Tucker Kraft. That is a spot where Tampa Bay has been vulnerable so far. He only has one red zone target. They've made moves to make the offensive line better. This is an easy math equation for Green Bay. Tucker Kraft gets better when he gets healthier from the ACL and isn't needed to block in line as much because they fixed some things on the offensive line. Until those things happen, Kraft will be hit and miss. I, you know, the breakout game is coming. I still believe it.

I do too.

He's too good.

He's paid too much money.

He had 8 targets. You know, Jayden Reed is gone. Like the kind of short area stuff. You know, is it this week? Like, I'm, I'm really undecided with him and Waller. I just don't know what to do with that situation.

Yeah, that is, that is pretty tough. I think I lean the Tucker Kraft side. Like Mike said, 8 targets last week and similar to Nabers, you expect a slower start to the season, but they will get it together. But like by the end of the season, at some point, the athleticism catches up. I mean, the atrophy goes away and you are ready to be the manimal you were. I don't know if it'll be this week, but the matchup is pretty good against the Buccaneers.

Stop dropping the ball.

Yeah, that's going to be helpful for sure.

Jordan Love or Jalen Hurts?

Jordan Love.

Jordan Love.

I'm still confident in the passing game for the Packers.

Yeah. They can't run.

Matthew Golden and Christian Watson. It's delightful.

My, my only fear at all was that last second visual hamstring pull from Christian Watson. Wednesday's injury practice report came out. He was not on it. He wasn't even listed as a full participant. He was just not on it. So he was just doing a bit.

Yeah. A little psych out.

Got us.

Like on the interception.

What a prank.

Because he was like, oh, I would have been a part of that play. But yeah, it was Miami.

Emeka Ibuka. Wide receiver 33, 32, and 39 through 3 weeks. Right now, I mean, no, he's in the like category of, you know, are you playing Dontayvion Wicks or him?

I mean, no, I'll still go there, but there is, I mean, backup quarterback. Ibuka with an undrafted quarterback who you, we have no idea if he can be good. The Packers defense is not scary, but a situation where you're already not performing and now you have a worse quarterback. I would prefer to have you on the bench, score a bunch of points so I can have confidence for next week.

I mean, it's 11 weeks in a row for Igboke where he has not had 10 fantasy points. He hasn't had 9 fantasy points. So this is not a guy with a rookie quarterback that I'm expecting to get a touchdown, which is seemingly his only way he's going to hit that double-digit threshold. I mean, he had a touchdown 2 weeks ago and he didn't hit You know, 10 points.

That's insane.

So he's, to me, he's like a double flex option.

Bucky seems like a good play in this game because Green Bay's defense has given up 29.2 fantasy points. And how do you protect a rookie undrafted free agent?

Yes.

You let him hand the ball off and you have success against Green Bay.

He 100% should be a good play, but an injury combined with a, the defense can just like, When you're a bad rush defense, but you don't have to worry about the quarterback, I'm going to sell out until the quarterback proves that he can beat me.

Tennessee's 0-3. They travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens at 2-1. Oh boy. The, the line, Baltimore minus 11.5. We can be quick with this one. The over-under is 42.5. That gives Baltimore 27. That means you start Jackson, Henry, Flowers, end of list. If Flowers is back, Bateman is not an option.

Correct.

So the Baltimore starts are simple. On the Tennessee side, the Tennessee sits are simple.

Yeah.

All of them. Sit them all. You want to play, you want to play Pollard? He didn't practice. Foot injury. You want to play Spears? Didn't practice. Ankle injury. You want to play Cam Ward? You're, you're literally should be in an institution.

It's Singleton's time to shine, baby.

I mean, Nicholas Singleton, I liked.

If, yeah, but he's not shining.

No, it's his time to not shine. And get carries.

Yeah. Some context.

Spears was knocked out of the game and they were like, Singleton, you stay there.

Listen, Jason, I watched both starters are gone.

Pollard didn't practice really last week too.

I watched Carnell Tate routes this week.

They were fantastic.

Open all the time. Double moves.

No, even got targeted on some of them while he was wide open.

Do you really—

flew over his head.

Do you realize that like Cam Ward has zero completions? completions over 20 yards. There's no, there's no big plays. He is 34th in yards per attempt. I mean, this is—

How are we talking about Caleb Williams in a robe and we're not talking about that play last week where Cameron Ward like stopped moving?

Yeah. What a cool trick you got.

He stopped moving.

You're allowed to do that if you're the best.

He just like kind of sat like he had the feet going and then no one was up and then he just kind of turned off. And he's like, hmm.

He did complete the pass on that play.

But it's like he did it in college a couple of times. This is not serious. This is not appropriate.

This is not serious quarterbacking.

That is unserious.

And they've talked about his footwork is atrocious and interception in the end zone. They could have won that game.

I can't imagine being a head coach in the NFL.

Don't worry. Brian Daboll is confident in him as a player and person.

Yay. I think Brian Daboll is going to have a new job next year.

I hope he's got a new quarterback sooner than his new job. But some context to rookie, you know, highly drafted wide receivers and their target share for the first 3 weeks because Carnell Tate's at a 25% target share. They're not throwing the ball enough, but he is being targeted last week. How many, how many do you have it in front of you?

Who do you want?

It was like 9 targets.

No, he did. He had 9 targets, 6 catches, 58 yards, wide open for a touchdown that they couldn't complete.

I saw people dropping Carnell Tate.

No, no, no, no, no.

And I went to scoop him up immediately. I think that is a massive mistake. I mean, would you play him?

Ameka Ibuka or Carnell Tate?

Carnell Tate for sure.

Mike? With the Jalen Daniels start? I think I'd play Carnell Tate.

I think I would play Carnell Tate. Carnell Tate.

Ironically, some of the numbers on that, Ameka Ibuka, his first 3 weeks as his rookie season, he was only 22% target share. Rome was at 18%. Teteroa McMillan, great rookie season, was only at 24% through his first 3 weeks.

It's just so much more than target share.

No, I agree.

I'm not saying you're saying that it's all that. But it's not a stat that I am holding on to for, for Carnell Tate in particular because the target from Cam Ward, you need 4 to equal a target from a regular quarterback. And those 3 games for Ibuka last year that you talked about, you know, he scored 3 touchdowns in them. For goodness sakes, Carnell Tate, what's the over-under on touchdowns rest of the way?

What's insane is—

3?

Carnell Tate should have had a touchdown in that game. He was wide open in the end zone.

And it was a target.

Yeah. And it just got missed. So it's— I mean, it's so easy.

And Wandale's outtargeting him.

Yeah. I mean, it's going to those 2 guys. The part of the problem here is volume and speed because, you know, you could say, oh, 25% target share is not bad. But, you know, we've talked about this in the past with Baltimore where it's like, well, how many total targets? They're playing so slow where it's like Cam Ward had 23 completions 2 weeks ago. You'd have to have like 75% target share to matter. So hopefully Cam Ward gets it together, figures out a little bit better play. I mean, we saw down the stretch last year some signs of life from Cam Ward. You came into this season, Andy.

Shut up. Shut your mouth.

Really believing that the Titans—

Shut your freaking mouth.

Were going to be a good offense and that Cam Ward—

I don't know what you're talking about. That wasn't me.

Was, was going to be good.

That wasn't me.

So. You know, it's still very early in his career.

I hate myself for thinking that. I really do.

Yeah.

I want to apologize for that. I want to apologize for believing anything about Malik Willis and Miami. I want to apologize for doubting Kyren Williams.

Oh, the spotlight here is for me.

I hate any wrong things I say. And those were super wrong. Cam Ward sucks balls.

Oh, get wrecked.

Get wrecked.

I mean, I had to do something to get out of the spotlight.

I will remind you.

Which is still, something's happening in this room right now.

Andy, for as bad as you feel, just remember the Titans drafted him at number 1.

They feel worse, you think?

Yeah.

Our room is, we're in a complete—

We're where we should be.

Oh, Jeremy's running around. He definitely wants the camera on and over there. Dallas.

Oh yeah, Brooks, I should have hit that.

What did he say?

That's on me, Brooks.

I don't say it often. That's for sure. Dallas 1-2, Houston 0-3, over-under 48.5. You talked about Stroud. Houston -3, still favored at home at 0-3 against Dallas because Dallas is 1-2 and seem— they just seem inexact in what they are like. We don't— They just made a trade for Joey Porter Jr. Big trade. Probably not playing this week. Could be out there. Houston's defense has been weird. They are still stopping running backs. So I have my doubts about Javonte going into Houston with that crowd and going up against the number 2 running defense and doing anything. So I think there might be start-sit decisions related to him like Braylon Allen. Like Braylon Allen or Javonte, I think is a fair question.

I think it's fair. Like Braylon Allen will probably have more yards than Javonte, but I'll Touchdown upside still, you still go with Javonte. It's still pretty high.

Are you there too, Jay?

Yeah, I am a barely Javonte. I think that's a fair call though. You can, you can make the decision on your own. This is a team that, you know, last year the Texans, you couldn't do anything against them. This year they've been beaten in the passing game. However, 2/3, 2/3 of their games were Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. And now here's Dak. So it's like, I don't know. Are they going to figure that out? They've got You don't think so? That you think they're just not as good as they were last year?

I don't think they're figuring it out this week against Dak and CeeDee and Pickens. No, I don't. I think their numbers are going to look this bad next week. They might win the game because Dallas's defense is equally atrocious. And, you know, can they run the ball? They thought that they could get their little Joe Mixon thing going with David Montgomery and Woody Marks. They have not. David Montgomery has been—

If Woody Marks is on your waiver wire, you should pick him up.

I mean, David Mopportunity. is a cool 6 for 10 and 11 for 33 the last 2 weeks with no touchdowns. I mean, it's been gross, gross, nasty, nasty.

I would pick up Woody Marks.

Yeah, but he's only averaging 3.3 a touch, but they may move on.

But he has looked much better than David Montgomery.

I mean, I know that there's been some talk about them getting him more involved. I think—

Still going to go to the— go to bat for David Montgomery.

Woody Marks was 8 for 8.

Yeah. I mean, this is—

Woody Marks was 5 for 15 the last 2 games. They haven't run it.

It's an offensive line problem. And I do think that they certainly still prefer David Montgomery over Woody Marks. David Montgomery played 63% of the snaps last week. So it's like this is still their leader. At this point it is. Yes. But it was, it was a difficult matchup. Now they are, they're playing against the Cowboys. Like this could be a very, this could be a week where David Montgomery is benched. in a lot of leagues and has 2 touchdowns again on your bench.

Are you playing him against a Dallas defense that's ranked 25th so far? Or are you playing Javonte who gets everything against the number 2 Houston defense?

I would play David Montgomery.

So that's interesting. You guys should bet like $100 on that.

No, I don't. I'm not bullish. I'm not bullish on David Montgomery.

He only bets on Aaron Rodgers.

I bet against the Browns. Okay.

In this game, by the way, Nico Collins could be back. Well, he was seen practicing again on Thursday and you play him. They would need him. CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Mike, start of the week, play him. And then Jake Ferguson, he has managed to score in 2 straight weeks. He is a touchdown or bust tight end, but you could maybe do worse in a high over-under game than sliding him into your lineup if you need to. Ferguson, Mike, or Colson Loveland. Wow. Wow. Let's finish our matchup talk with that.

Ferguson.

All right.

This also feels like a playoff game. Like one of these teams between a 1-2 and 0-3 team. As in like, as in you lose your toes.

Oh, I see what you mean.

One of these teams is going to be, you know, really, if you're 0-4 as the Texans.

Yeah.

It's over.

Wow. And if the Cowboys lose and they're 1-3, they're going to feel like it's tough too.

No, I get it. You're right. Absolutely. Dalton Schultz. It is a revenge game for him. He's got the second most targets. He is a, if Nico doesn't play, start to me. Seahawks have designated running back Zach Charbonnet to return to practice, guys. Trade away Jerderian Price.

Yeah, I don't think it's too late.

Who's buying?

I think the bag is in your hands.

Much like Monty right now.

Yeah.

After week 1. That was Fantasy Forecast presented by PrizePicks. Make sure to follow our account at the FF Ballers in the app to see our best picks every week. PrizePicks run your game. We'll say goodbye for today. We'll be back tomorrow. Thursday Night Football tonight. We'll recap it. We'll talk matchups. We'll talk Fantasy Faceoff. We'll talk Wheel of Shame tomorrow. And it's not me.

Oh, it's me.

Goodbye. 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, @TheFFBallers.