Strap in, fantasy football aficionados, because we're about to navigate the bone-crushing intensity of the semifinals together! Feel the rush and agony of my own fantasy football saga as we journey through week 16, where I'm gunning for championship glory across two leagues, while also tipping our hats to John's heartbreaker. We're not merely sharing war stories; we're arming you with the latest intel on injuries and lineup decisions that could make or break your playoff dreams. From Ja'Marr Chase's pivotal shoulder situation to the strategic coaching moves affecting your roster, this episode is your playbook for coming out on top.
Ever wondered how a single coaching decision can ripple through your fantasy pool? We dissect Arthur Smith's controversial benching of Bijon Robinson, and I'm not holding back on my fiery take. We also unpack the underwhelming fantasy outputs from heavy-hitters like Breece Hall and Derrick Henry and offer up alternatives to boost your team's performance. Plus, we tackle the tricky terrain of quarterback quandaries, offering up a strategic analysis that might just give your lineup the edge it needs. Whether it's Mayfield's moment or Lawrence's limbo, we're breaking down all the variables for your fantasy football success.
As the fantasy football semifinals loom, you're faced with pivotal start/sit decisions that can spell victory or defeat. We're serving up our top recommendations for players who are poised to shine and those who might just be decoys in disguise. From Trey McBride's breakout potential to Courtland Sutton's connection with Wilson, we highlight the players that deserve a spot in your starting lineup. And for those last-minute tweaks, we'll guide you through the minefield of matchups, sharing our expert picks for streamers and starters that could be your secret weapon to clinching a spot in that fantasy football Super Bowl.
Thanks for Listening! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBPAVRUduAUqHORYenFfo9w
Strap in, fantasy football aficionados, because we're about to navigate the bone-crushing intensity of the semifinals together! Feel the rush and agony of my own fantasy football saga as we journey through week 16, where I'm gunning for championship glory across two leagues, while also tipping our hats to John's heartbreaker. We're not merely sharing war stories; we're arming you with the latest intel on injuries and lineup decisions that could make or break your playoff dreams. From Ja'Marr Chase's pivotal shoulder situation to the strategic coaching moves affecting your roster, this episode is your playbook for coming out on top.
Ever wondered how a single coaching decision can ripple through your fantasy pool? We dissect Arthur Smith's controversial benching of Bijon Robinson, and I'm not holding back on my fiery take. We also unpack the underwhelming fantasy outputs from heavy-hitters like Breece Hall and Derrick Henry and offer up alternatives to boost your team's performance. Plus, we tackle the tricky terrain of quarterback quandaries, offering up a strategic analysis that might just give your lineup the edge it needs. Whether it's Mayfield's moment or Lawrence's limbo, we're breaking down all the variables for your fantasy football success.
As the fantasy football semifinals loom, you're faced with pivotal start/sit decisions that can spell victory or defeat. We're serving up our top recommendations for players who are poised to shine and those who might just be decoys in disguise. From Trey McBride's breakout potential to Courtland Sutton's connection with Wilson, we highlight the players that deserve a spot in your starting lineup. And for those last-minute tweaks, we'll guide you through the minefield of matchups, sharing our expert picks for streamers and starters that could be your secret weapon to clinching a spot in that fantasy football Super Bowl.
Thanks for Listening! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBPAVRUduAUqHORYenFfo9w
Alright, alright, alright, welcome to the show. This is the Frank Lee Fantasy Football Podcast. We are your hosts, frankie and Johnny. Welcome to the semifinals, week 16. Frankie, my brother.
Speaker 2:Here we are, john, we made it baby. We are here, we are queer and we are ready to rock and roll baby.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe not queer, but you know we're goofy, you know either way, yes, yes, queer in the Super century Century, the old definition of queer. Sorry, Try not to get us canceled. Okay, we made it through the whole season, frank. That'd be really helpful, man, sorry, alright, welcome to the show everybody. Frankie, how are we looking? How's Frank Lee Fantasy representing here? Are you going to represent us in some titles this year, or what, brother?
Speaker 2:John, I hope I'm carrying this baby Right now. I'm still in two leagues, still in two leagues, still feeling pretty damn good, right, I made the semis in our big 14-man league, so I'm playing against the juggernaut of our cousin, dennis McGlone. So we'll see what, see what the guys can do, man. But in the other league, league of extraordinary gentlemen, we put together one hell of a high roller type of league and I am in the semis there and it's going to be another battle. Man. Tyler Ross shout out to you man, my lord, did he put up some serious points last week? So, john, I'm going to hope I hold it down for you, brother, what? Let me ask you what happened, man? How are you feeling? I know it was a tough week. I know I'm going to, you know, berate this too. You know too much. But what do you think, bro?
Speaker 1:Well, the two guys that you just shouted out, the two guys that you're going to be playing, are the two guys that beat me last week. So my watch, unfortunately, has ended. Yes, I know, I know, yeah, it's tough, we'll get into it, but I've got two names for you. Just want to throw those names out there Breece Hall, bijan Robinson. We'll talk about it later, but it's too soon for me right now. I'm too mad. I'm squeezing a stress ball as we speak to just not throw my goddamn computer across my room right now. Jesus Rough, rough week.
Speaker 1:But hey guys, don't worry, we're going to get you a fantasy championship, a frankly fantasy championship, and it starts right here. We've got a great episode for you today. We're going to be doing our starts and sits, our hit it and quit it the most important thing for week 16. We're going to look at a Thursday night preview, but first, as always, we're going to get into the news baby News and notes. Okay, don't forget, you can also get some news from us on our Instagram. Great follow there's going to be start sits on there. There's a lot of funny shit as well, but you'll get some news of some guys that are that are hurt or maybe playing. Take a look, please follow us on Instagram. Frankly, fantasy football.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get into some news here. Man, jamar Chase shoulder injury. He's going to be out for week 16, probably out for two weeks. You're probably done with Jamar Chase, unfortunately, so make some other plans there. All right, since we're on the Bengals here with Jamar Chase, I have to assume T Higgins. Thank God, welcome back, brother. Wow, yeah, how about that touchdown? Was that the coolest shit you've ever seen? Oh my God. Yeah, just reaching behind that reverse reach around is what I'd like to call that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was a reverse reach and it was very, very productive. That was a really well done reverse reach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was. It was very, very good man, good to see him back. I assume T Higgins is a must start now at this point.
Speaker 2:Jamar Chase out slamming, slam. Start there, man yeah definitely Okay.
Speaker 1:What about Tyler Boyd? You know this is. This is semis here, this is semi finals. We're not. We're not fucking around now, frank, this is not. Yeah, you know, I think it's a guy you could play. No man, there's championships on the line. Your team, you've got Tyler Boyd. Is this the time that you're looking at starting up Tyler Boyd, probably in a flex position?
Speaker 2:No, no, not this week, it's against. They're playing it in a divisional game against that of Pittsburgh this week, John, and even when Jamar Chase was banged up and went out last week, Tyler Boyd, you know he had two catches, five targets for 53 yards. So didn't put up a, you know, a bust of a stat line. But again, I think you probably have better options out there. I'm not, I believe in what Jake Browning is doing, man, I do. I think if you're, if you're not a believer at this point you're, you're kind of just a hater. But no, I'm not willing to risk Tyler Boyd in a divisional matchup against Pittsburgh in my flex spot this week in the semis.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk a little bit of Houston Texans here. Cj Stroud that's a miss again. It's looking like he's still having headaches. He has not practiced this week. Looks like he is going to miss week 16 versus the Browns. You've also got Nico Collins, who's questionable as well. We'll get to that, I think, in our sit situation here. Frank a little bit later. Geno Smith Okay, Expected to start versus the Titans, like, actually start this time, not be active, not going to fuck with the Cowboys by or fuck with the Eagles by saying he's active, but we don't know who the starter is. Well, that was some weird shit, wasn't it?
Speaker 2:That was really weird man. I mean I don't think I've ever seen that to that degree before. Knowing that Geno's active, yet they're not sure if Tyler Locke's going to be rolling out there. And then, five minutes before the game, I mean they're like okay, yeah, it's Tyler Locke and everybody's frantically freaking out, you know, and you put in their fantasy lineups and stuff. So yeah, I don't think I've ever actually seen that to that degree before.
Speaker 1:Did you see the panic in our text? Threads from our leagues.
Speaker 2:I was dying All of our leagues.
Speaker 1:We've got these text threads going and there were guys shout out to Lance Harmon yeah, they're going. Come on, pete Carroll. What the fuck are you doing? Just tell me who's goddamn playing. Oh man, that was, that was a. Geno Smith is expected to start this week, though. Another quarterback change here. Taylor Heineck is going to start week 16 for the Falcons versus the Colts. Is this going to affect who you're looking at putting out there for the Falcons, frank?
Speaker 2:No, no, it won't. I mean, if you're, if you have Drake wanted more than likely you have to start him, assuming he's on your team, probably in a flex spot, something like that. Maybe you're willing to start pits. I wouldn't be. And again, we're going to talk about Bijan here in a bit and that whole running back situation. So no, this isn't going to change anything for me. I think it's just. You know, they're trying to figure out what the hell to do at this point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, keaton Mitchell tears his ACL. He is out for the season. Running back for the Baltimore Ravens Now, without Keaton Mitchell back there, you've got the Ravens. This week we're going to have Justice Hill and Gus Edwards. What's that backfield look like? Are you comfortable throwing either of these two guys out there in your semifinal week?
Speaker 2:John, no, and I know one of them are going to pop off. Right, I know that Gus Edwards or Justice Hill could have double digits. The problem is is they're playing San Francisco. We're having two juggernauts at 11 and three going to try to prove that they are the best team in the NFL, because it's between those two at this point in time, in my opinion. And so for me, man, no, I don't think this is a good matchup. I don't like this on Christmas Day night, on a Monday night fashion, and all the spotlight is on it. I see this being much more the Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson show doing what he's been doing right Running the ball often and effectively and distributing the ball, you know, across some of his receivers, and nice day likely at this point. So no, man, I know it's crazy, one of them might pop off and you might need to start Gus Edwards or Justice Hill right in a big league, but for me it was a teller.
Speaker 1:And in my mind, if you have to start somebody, you've got Gus Edwards. I think Gus Edwards is the one because he's going to be the goal line back. You just got to hope for some, you know some goal line touches there. But yeah, I'm with you on that man. I don't feel good about it. Desperation, you have to do it. You got to do what you got to do. But if I've got choices not the choice I would make Chiefs coach Andy Reed expects Isaiah Pacheco to play versus the Raiders. If Isaiah Pacheco is active, play him, lick your chops and enjoy his week. He's been awesome and the Raiders can't stop anybody.
Speaker 1:Mason Rudolph, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, looking to start versus the Bengals here. Okay, what's, what's this going to do, mason Rudolph? All I remember is we were at the game with the Browns game and the Steelers when Miles Garrett took the helmet off and beat Mason Rudolph. Yeah, I remember that. Okay, anyway, mason Rudolph at the helm. You've got Pat Fryermuth, who's questionable. He may play Deontay Johnson. George Pickens what are we doing with these guys?
Speaker 2:John. For me, I'm actually leaning towards potentially starting that of Deontay Johnson. We'll talk about him here in a bit. But really, what he's shown over the last few weeks, with the quarterback carousel happening between Kenny Pickett, mitch Trebisky and now what's going to be Mason Rudolph, is he's kind of the guy I mean running these quick routes, running these drag routes, running these slants. He has absolutely solidified himself as their number one target and or receiver at this point in time. So for me, man, I think I would actually fire up Deontay Johnson this week in that flex spot, knowing it's your semis Now what this does for some of the other folks.
Speaker 2:I'm real nervous about Pickens, and I say that, man, because and I'm not trying to, you know, add on to what the media is saying and everything like that about his effort. But there was a couple of plays there that you know was a bit shocking for a Mike Tomlin driven team to, where he definitely took a playoff or four. And yeah, he can say he's blaming it on, you know, the tank delandry and he doesn't want to get injured and get rolled up on At the end of the day. Man, it was soft, like it was real soft on your approach there and you totally left Jaylen Warren out to dry who could have scored. And so for me, man, what I'm getting at is there's been some turmoil here with Pickens on this team and I think it's, you know, there could be some issues. So I would actually lean maybe a little bit away from Pickens this week, knowing it's a divisional rival, knowing that Mason Rudolph is at the helm Again, I like that of Deontay Johnson.
Speaker 2:Now, friar Muth, right, if he's healthy. Right, he's a little bit banged up, he could be interesting as well. Right, we've solved some of that connection previously. So there's some synergy already there, which I like. So he could be a nice little, you know, start for you. If you need a tight end and you don't like some of the tight ends, you can stream. As long as he's healthy and ready to go, yeah, it could be interesting in this particular game, john.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's move on to Indianapolis. Here We've got some. We've got an interesting situation in this backfield. Frank and I don't know that we're going to have a good answer to help anybody here and the answer just maybe stay away. Yeah, zach Moss shoulder injury. He's going to try to play versus the Falcons. I don't love that news. That doesn't make me feel good. Jt, jonathan Taylor also could play. It's possible. Backups Trace Herman, tyler Goodson now they both came in and both combined for 157 yards rushing last week. What are we doing here with this team man?
Speaker 2:To your point, man, I'm not starting any of them. The only one that I would remotely start is, if he plays, would be JT. But you're taking a huge risk. I mean you're taking a huge risk in re-enduring. You're taking a huge risk against also a pretty darn good defense at this point in time, especially against that of the run. So, john, yeah, I mean JT I would put my money where my mouth is and I would start him if he ended up, if he ends up playing, but I'm not necessarily sure I feel super great about it. But I'm not starting Zach Moss, trace, herman, tyler Goodson if JT is not playing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's going to be a carousel. If Zach Moss were healthy it's a different story. He's not. They're certainly going to work in these other guys. Even if Zach Moss can get on the field, it's not going to be a full workload. It can't be Okay. Michael Pittman, also in the same team here with the Colts in concussion protocol. Monitor this guy. So you're going to have to watch and see if he gets out of this, because you definitely want to play Michael Pittman if he can play here. Trevor Lawrence, it's also in concussion protocol as well. You're just going to have to monitor, get closer to game time and see if he's going to go, but make plans just in case he can't.
Speaker 1:Some somewhat good news here Chris Alave, wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, limited practice on Tuesday. So that's good, he's back on the field. Monitor him. He should be able to play for Thursday night football. Now, this is interesting. Thursday night football will talk about the game, but we've got some guys coming back for this New Orleans Saints offense, with Rashid Shahid, we've got Alvin Kamara, we've got Chris Alave. Could be pretty interesting there. All right, keenan Allen, I want your take on this. Frankie. Keenan Allen did not practice wide receiver for the Chargers, the miserable Chargers who, by the way, after the game immediately fired their head coach, immediately fired their GM. And yeah, keenan Allen did not practice. And in the notes here, frank, I just put I wouldn't fucking play either. I mean that's.
Speaker 2:Fuck, no, I I.
Speaker 1:If you're the Keenan Allen owner, I would make plans to be without him because I he's got a heel injury. But this is one of those things. This is a veteran guy. He doesn't have much longer in here. He does not want to sit here and go down with the ship and, you know, risk injury or anything else. I would not expect him to be playing, but keep an eye on that. What do you think about that?
Speaker 2:I agree. I agree, john, unless something drastically changes over the next right couple days or so, like I also don't know if I would, if I would really risk it. I mean, right, your head coach is gone, your star quarterback, that's getting you. The ball is gone. Maybe the Chargers are looking to evaluate some of these other receivers to understand what's happening from this perspective, knowing contracts are coming into play.
Speaker 2:The other key factor here, john, in in that contract talk, is the Chargers are screwed for the next few years. I mean, they have to pay Cleal Mac 38 million. They're going to owe Justin Herbert quite a bit coming down the pike, keenan Allen as well, I mean. And, john, like there's like four or five players JC Jackson they still are paying him. They're going to have to pay these guys handsomely next year for in the year after for their contract. So right now, man, if I'm the Chargers, I'm telling Keenan yo, you're good, sit down, you know, do your thing. Maybe take some rest here. We need to evaluate some other guys because right now it's not worth getting him hurt, especially if you can utilize him next year for a, for a serious push.
Speaker 1:I agree, we'll talk about some of the Chargers here. We'll look at this. They play on Saturday. We're going to look at a few of these Saturday games here, but I've definitely got some, some worries about a few other guys on that team too, and we'll get to that All right. Last piece of news here is Zach Wilson, the little fucking Mormon kid, will be the starter if he clears protocol for the Jets. Cool, so I'm saying cool, awesome.
Speaker 1:All right, man, let's look at some ice and fire here. You know what? I want to play the intro one more time. Yeah, you know. Yeah, I haven't done the Game of Thrones ice and fire for a while, so I missed. All right, I love it. All right, let's get into some ice here. Guys that were on ice this past week we're just going to touch on a few guys here. And, and Frankie, what I really want to know is all right, yes, they sucked this past week. Are they going to suck again? Can we play them? This is do or die, man. I mean Dak Prescott, number one guy on here quarterback four points. That whole team just got obliterated. That was shocking, beyond shocking. Dak was terrible. Dak looked like shit. What's going on there and how are we feeling this week for Dak? Is it a slam dunk?
Speaker 2:John, I don't know if this is actually a slam dunk. Miami's defense looked amazing. Now, granted, they were playing the Jets often. So we have to be able to compartmentalize what happened and what we saw. Right Same the same thing applies with what we saw from Denver and Miami. Right, miami Boat races Denver and then Denver comes out and wins, like what? Six or seven straight after, you know, after a certain period of time.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, man, I mean, for me, I'm still riding with Dak. He's the number three overall quarterback. I expect a huge bounce back, with the Philadelphia Eagles losing. The Cowboys have everything on the line to win the division, which means a home playoff advantage against you know, some up and coming, tough NFC teams. I mean, let's just call it what it is. The Rams are coming up, seattle Seahawks just beat the Eagles. Who the hell knows what that team's going to look like in the next few weeks? So, yeah, man, I think that for me, I'm going to ride in the flames with that of Dak this week, knowing Miami's high-powered offense, tyreek could end up being back. If that happens, then you got Tyreek and Waddle, and what you're going to need to do in order to keep up with them. You've got to pass the ball effectively. I think Dak is going to have a bounce back. It's in Miami. It could be some great warm weather. Dak performs well in warm weather.
Speaker 1:OK, another quarterback here. Shit the bed, justin Fields. Eight points out of Justin Fields. Tough game for him, all right. This week he's at home playing Arizona. I assume you're going to want to throw Justin Fields out there, john, I'm starting Justin Fields.
Speaker 2:I'm starting Justin Fields this week. If you can stream him, get him. We'll talk about him a little bit later. But absolutely, John, that 8.6 points of what he had really wasn't the full story. He actually had let's just call it a Hail Mary at the end was a touchdown. I mean that was a drop touchdown. And then he also had another blown play, Her Colcomet. I mean it was bad, it was real bad. And then the other tight end as well. So he actually had two or three touchdowns dropped, and so for me, man, I just think it's staying the flames against an Arizona defense. That's putrid, and I think that he's going to need to continue to show out and prove that he's the guy for Chicago, especially with them, as of right now, having the number one overall pick. So I'd like Justin Fields this week, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, justin Fields is auditioning for another job right now, definitely, and this is the week for him to do it. I think Cleveland defense last week very difficult defense. How about the Hillman? He had two Hail Marys. He had a Hail Mary after the first half that was picked, and a Hail Mary at the end of the game that was picked, that's. I don't know if that's ever happened. That's pretty unusual, man. All right, we'll talk about Justin Fields a little bit later here.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's look at some running backs. B John Robinson negative 1.1 points. Frankie, I can't talk about I have to pass this on to you because my hand hurts from slapping that fucking mustache off a goddamn Arthur Smith. I can't even believe it. I can't believe it. I had Breeze Hall. I had B John Robinson. I had a good week ahead of me, man. Everything looked great. I had a wonderful team. I lost by I don't know maybe 12 points, I can't even remember exactly, it wasn't very much, let's just put it that way and Breeze Hall and B John Robinson combined for like three total points, and I can't believe it. What's going on with B John, and are we going to go through this again this week, john?
Speaker 2:I think that what happened with B John was a travesty. I think that Arthur Smith deserves to lose his job because he is mismanaging this to a degree that I don't know I've seen in the NFL. Like seriously, like this is pathetic, is what he's done, especially when you know what I'm going to get on my fucking soapbox here because you know what he ended up. Man, you are in the playoff hunt, like literally, you are in the top of your division with the Bucks, the Saints and you. You're the worst division in the NFL and yet you still have a chance to be your division leader. You're playing against the worst team in the NFL and you decide when it's monsooning out. You're away at Carolina, it's monsooning, crazy rain. For the entirety of the game, your rookie running back Thumbled and you thought it was a good idea to sit his ass for the rest of the game. I find that to be so petty and ridiculous that that caused you your win there. That specifically caused you your win. You played Bijon. More likely than not. Then you are having a better opportunity to win. Why are you not doing that? A good example, john. We were talking about this earlier on McVeigh. Kyren Williams fumbles right, he's not taking his ass. He might take him out for a series or something, but he's putting his ass back in and then he feeds him over 30 touches. And guess what they do? They win the game and now they're back into a playoff position.
Speaker 2:What good coaches do is, yeah, they discipline what need to be, but then they're not petty enough to let that carry over and put your team in a losing position. That's exactly what Arthur Smith did. Now he's blaming it on the quarterback play. Well, guess what, man, you put any quarterback in a monsoon like that, more than likely they're not going to play super great. So you know what you should do. You should rely on the run. And so, fun fact, man, they gave Tyler Algier 14 rushes, they gave Bijon Robinson seven, they gave Cortland or Cordero Patterson five and they ran Desmond Ritter five times.
Speaker 2:You're telling me out of that list there, bijon Robinson, you give him 15, 16 touches. That's not going to put you in a better position to win, dude. I'm telling you, man, I was disgusted with that position or, excuse me with that, with what Arthur Smith did and the way he operated his team. I thought that it was petty, I thought that it was ridiculous and I'm kind of pissed off for Bijon. Now, the flip side of this is you brought up something really brilliant and you were like well, hey, I started digging into this, right. And what did you say, john, I'll let you kind of speak for yourself there. But you said you were digging into it about the stack box and things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, looking into that and I think I heard somebody talking about this on another podcast. But yeah, they were looking at Tyler Algear. He's in there when there's seven or eight men in the box and Bijon Robinson's in there when there's five men in the box typically. And it seems that Arthur Smith is trying to just be a little too cute that he wants to keep Bijon out of those stack boxes more of a shotgun spread offense is that type of thing and run Tyler Algear up the middle. But you had a great retort to that is that John's used to doing that. He saw stacked boxes all throughout college, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It just seems a little cute to me. When you've got that much talent in your backfield, you've got to be utilizing it. You've got to be utilizing and then find better ways to utilize it, find better ways to get him in space, to get him the ball.
Speaker 2:I just don't understand why that's not happening and John also, it with the stacked box and things like that. You, yeah, exactly like in college. But also, what the fuck do you think is gonna happen when it's monsooning out? Why do you think that you we're gonna run three wide or four wide in that, all of a sudden, now these, these teams are gonna be like oh yeah, let's run of a zone outside or whatever it may be. Of course they're gonna stack the box when it's monsooning. So again, it just goes back to to your point way too cute, you got way too far in your bag and you trying to pull out shit that didn't work and you lost because of it. And so to me, man, yeah, I think that was a really messed up move for B John and, and I think that was a poor look on Arthur Smith's part.
Speaker 1:All right, now let's let's look at this week with B John. I mean, you have to play him right.
Speaker 2:You have to play him, you have to fire up B John Robinson. This week, john, and I'll tell you what I am also in that camp they're playing Denver's defense. Denver's defense is up there with some of the worst against the run. And so now, looking at this, they are or, excuse me, they are playing, excuse me against that of the Colts this week, not Denver the Colts this week. And so, looking at the Colts, they're playing at home, john, they're playing in the dome in Atlanta. Everything on the line, right same thing with the Colts here. So what you need to do, you don't have to worry about the elements. You don't have to worry about anything else than coming in here and winning at home. The playoffs are still on the line. There are still three weeks left in the NFL season. Right, if the Saints lose, bucks lose, you guys win three-way tie as it sits.
Speaker 2:So for me, man, I think that Arthur Smith Is it definitely got his hand slapped because the owner came out and said basically, hey, we're gonna evaluate these next three games and and make a decision from that point. You would be insane, if you're Arthur Smith at home, not to run the shit out of BJ or out of B John Robinson, especially against this Colts D, because the Colts D has been pretty damn solid against the pass and right now you're rolling out Taylor Heinecky. Right, you can't decide on a quarterback, right? Desmond Ritter had, john, we talked about it, what three or four, three hundred yard games and like a five or six game span. So he wasn't necessarily performing terrible, right, and so everything's up in the air. Go back to what you know, and you know this guy can play. So for me, man, I'm firing up B John Robinson.
Speaker 1:Okay, breeze Hall, let's just go back to back here. Let's just twist the knife in my goddamn soul, god. Okay, let's, let's look at Breeze Hall this week, man, I mean, what do you have here? Let me just look at it again. Two points, okay. So these were my, my running backs on my amazing team. I put together B John Robinson, negative one point, and Breeze Hall with two points. So, okay, they got me one point. One point, wow, unbelievable, I'm fucking believable. All right, breeze Hall, and what do we do now? I mean, what are we doing with the Jets in general? This, I mean.
Speaker 2:John, this is really tough. I actually shout out. Naz brought up a brilliant Naz for those listening and watching. It's one of my best friends grew up with. On top of it, he's really at at fantasy football. We're in a few leagues together. He asked me who does he start and one of those guys was Breeze Hall, another one was Deontay Johnson, kenneth Walker, etc.
Speaker 2:Breeze Hall's matchup this week is salivatingly sexy. Right, we're talking Washington, right, and in a games where it's at the Jets, right, so that home stadium, feel you know that this is a game you can win on your defense and with your run game. The problem is the more I started diving into it is is that they only ran Breeze Hall six times last game, six times. Okay, there is now been a problem John over when we start looking at his rush attempts Over the last four weeks. It's concerning six rushes. Even if you're down, right, even if you're down, you need to still run. Breeze, six rushes, ten rushes against Houston, right, 13 rushes against Atlanta, seven rushes again against Miami. And here has been his rushing yardage total right 25 yards, 16 yards, 40 yards and 12 yards. This past week, john, where Breeze Hall has been effective has been in the receiving game, and so he's had nine in the last four weeks, starting with week 12 9, 9 targets, 8 targets, 9 targets, 2 targets.
Speaker 2:So, for me, I'm actually a little more nervous about Breeze Hall this week, because are they gonna try and see what Dalvin Cook is gonna be able to do?
Speaker 2:Are they gonna try some of the rookies that they actually Got into play who is crazy, as it sounds actually scored more points than these guys, and so fantasy points. And so for me, man, if, face value, you're looking at this and you're like, yeah, I'm starting Breeze Hall against Washington, I think it's a little bit deeper than that. So for me, man, you know, and and as if you're listening out there, we went back and forth a bit if you have other options, go the other options. This week, even though the matchups are great for the Jets against Washington, because of the uncertainty of this team, don't put yourself in a position to where right, this isn't necessarily a super high-ceiling play here, guys right, like this isn't like you know, you're gonna see a Gabe Davis throw up, you know, a 30 point banger or zero. This is actually like with, with Zach Wilson potentially being out, they might start boil again and right, just the whole turmoil happening around the Jets. Sean, I don't know if I'm willing to risk the semis on Breeze Hall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I I'm with you on that, especially if you're in a more shallow league, a 10 man league. I definitely would not start Breeze Hall. You definitely go after some other options here, but yeah, it's, it's just brutal, it's been consistent. Unfortunately, they're just not giving him the opportunities. Got all the talent in the world but again, fantasy football is where talent meets opportunity. The opportunity is just not there with the Jets. The other option here is Garrett Wilson. I do think that you can start Garrett Wilson. Yeah, I do think you can play Garrett Wilson here, because I think the wash I think Washington really will shut down the run Stacked the box makes Zach Wilson beat you, which he never does. Yeah, you know, I mean, I think that might be the strategy. So, yeah, I would look at some other options besides Breeze Hall this week.
Speaker 1:Okay, javante Williams, let's get to him a little bit. Javante with three points. King Henry with three points. Seyquan with four points, echler five I mean it's Pollard six man. These guys really killed people this week. Let's look at let's look at King Henry for a second. All right, king Henry, um, moving forward. How you feeling about Derek Henry here this week? Week 16.
Speaker 2:John, I'm firing up, I'm firing up Derek Henry. This week they're playing Seattle, right, seattle's defense has been coming on like, so like. Let me be very crystal clear. But the thing is is that I really like this matchup? Right, we're looking at they're. They're back at home. Right, they had a really tough matchup against that of Houston in terms of just, it didn't go their way.
Speaker 2:Um, well, some of the, some of the things that that was happening. I mean Derek Henry, john, I mean outside of last week against Houston. Every other time he's played Houston, it's been double digit fantasy points. Okay, so now we're rolling into that of Seattle. Yeah, it's a good team, but Seattle that you know. They just won a very emotional game with that of the Eagles at home. So now that they got to travel to Nashville, man, I could actually see Derek Henry getting the lion's share of the load, uh, once more. So I'm definitely starting him. You know, staying in the flames with him Is, especially since he's the number eight running back and in half ppr, averaging 13 points a game right now. So I'm gonna stay in the flames with him this week.
Speaker 1:Will levis is banged up as well. He's not gonna be quite as mobile, so he's gonna have to rely, I think, more on the running game this week, definitely. Um, okay, um, we'll talk about echolern a little bit here, man, um, let's look at let's look at ze flowers, another guy on ice. This one was kind of shocking. One point out of ze flowers, I think he just had one catch on the on the day for maybe 15 yards, something like that. Um, what, what do you do with ze flowers moving for you? He's always seems to be a guy in my. I've got him in a super flex league With lamar as my quarterback. So I've got the stack, but ze flowers, and like two other guys, is kind of the carousel I had in my flex spot. When do you start ze flowers? Is this gonna be the week, john? This?
Speaker 2:is tough. This is super tough. I'll lump him in with obj at this point. Right, ze flowers with 1.2 points, obj with 1.9. And you know, they're playing against san francisco and the interesting thing is san francisco's rush d is very good, they're pasty, they, they've been scored on, they've had some points put up against them from the past perspective. And you look at how effective and efficient lamar has been throwing the ball, any given point time one of these guys could pop. So, man, this is really tough. And you look at what ze flowers did, man, I mean two targets last week, but prior to that he had 10 and then eight.
Speaker 2:And so for me, man, I don't know, I'm not leaning towards starting any of the ravens receivers this week, strictly because if lamar ends up targeting that of isa likely, which again we've seen an uptick with his production Significantly, especially since mark angers, but even over the course of the last few weeks there's like lamar and tight ends. It's like peanut butter and chocolate, right, it's like you take a bite of that frozen reese cup and the key is a frozen reese cup. If you've never had one, you're, you're a sin, you're sick, go to church, go talk to the priest and, and you know, get your demons out right. Freeze a reese cup and get it in your fucking mouth and try it out. It's delicious. So what I'm getting at is I'm almost leaning towards John going more isa likely this week and and really looking towards him is the main component rather than taking a flyer on obj and ze flowers, because here's the other thing Is that you're gonna have the.
Speaker 2:The baltimore ravens are playing against nick boza, who is just dominating, along with many others in this, in this defensive front, john, I could see them trying to throw the ball, but lamar is gonna have to scramble outside of the pocket. So, unless it's a broken play, I could see lamar actually running more. So what I'm getting at is I'm not as high or bullish on these baltimore receivers bleeding into this week, knowing how Emotionally charged both sides of the of the teams are going to be. It's christmas day night. Everything is on the line here for both teams and if, basically if, they win this, whoever wins this game I mean, it's a lock you're locked in for the number one seed in my personal opinion, and now that you have home field advantage pretty much throughout the entirety of the playoffs. So I am not willing to put up these receivers in a semifinal fantasy football week.
Speaker 1:All right, that game could be the super bowl this year could be very well. Graven's 49ers Very well could be my one last guy on ice I want to talk about. This seems to be the decline of travis kelsey. Are we witnessing the beginning of the end? He's still great, but he's certainly not the player he was. Is a taylor swifts fault?
Speaker 2:It's not it is, but it's not. It is a little bit the smidge, just a smidge. No, I mean, here's the deal, man. I mean the guy's been dominant for fucking you know 10 years. At this point, just about, I mean, he's done everything he needs to do. He's already made multiple remarks that he's ready to retire here pretty soon. His girlfriend is, I mean, right smoke show gazillionaire, does her thing like. He's getting to a point where I think is on the planet man, exactly man. He's getting to a point to where his football actually becoming secondary and his podcast is taken off with his brother and he's having a blast and so Bringing it back to fantasy here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we are slowly witnessing the decline. But here's the other Part of this. He has no one else. Yeah, rishi rice is coming on. Yes, he's the number one receiver on that team. But when we're saying that this rookie is the number one receiver on this team, that's a problem, because defenses are keying on kelsey, right. That's leaving open Rishi rice. That's leaving open kaderi sony, who can't catch a ball to save his life, right. So the teams are keying on kelsey. Knowing pretty much this, is it Rishi rice we're going to go one-on-one with, and god bless him if he beats us. So it all factors in man, and so for me, yeah, to answer your question, I think I think the honeymoon that we've seen for the last seven years pretty much of of the domination that he's done Is slowly come into a close. So enjoy it while we see it, man, because if we don't know how much longer we're going to see this badass tight end continue to play.
Speaker 1:All right, let's get to a couple of guys. I love fire. All right, hey, one guy on fire here, frank, let's, let's get to this. Okay, it was a bake show. It was the british baking show here. Oh yeah, baker mayfield, 33 points. Okay with with a perfect game. Talk, talk about baker. We still got some love for baker, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:Cleveland as a whole has got some love for baker. Shout out to the cleveland, shout out to the brownies the land and shout out to baker mayfield man, trust me, there are many people that still love you, even though it didn't work out. What was beautiful about this man is that he's the only quarterback Outside of erin rogers in the history of lambo field who has played at lambo to throw for a perfect game. Think about what I just said. Think about the quarterbacks that have played there. Think about the hull of famers that have played there. Think about the opposing quarterbacks that have played there Baker mayfield, erin rogers only quarterbacks to ever throw a perfect game at lambo. Shout out, bro. That was. That was beautiful, that was wonderful to watch and it was just amazing.
Speaker 1:All right, what does what does baker look like moving forward? I mean, is this for week 16 and your semi-finals? If you're in that streaming quarterback category or in a super flex, I mean, what are you doing with baker this week? Is this something that you feel good about you?
Speaker 2:know, john, with baker mayfield they're playing jackson bill, so, and they're at home against jackson bill. So, right, I mean it's florida match up here, but a lot is on the line. So, yeah, man, I think you absolutely can fire up baker mayfield if your quarterbacks are banged up. They have too tough Match up. This is definitely an interesting stream for this week. The other key callout is Jacksonville. Right, might not have Trevor Lawrence, so that will significantly impact game flow. Gameplay, everything for that of Jacksonville, which means their defense could be on the field more often, which means they're gonna be tired, which means that Mike Evans, chris Godwin were shot. White catching the ball from that of Baker Mayfield could be awesome once more. So, absolutely, john, this is definitely a week that I believe. If you desperately need a quarterback and you're looking for streaming options, good luck at Baker.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, let's look at a couple other backups here. I mean, we've got a whole list of backups who did pretty well Aiden O'Connell with 32 points. Nick Mullins 21 points, nick Mullins. Let's talk about Mullins here. We had some questions on YouTube about Justin Jefferson and about Jordan Addison People, you know, making fun of us because we said not to play Jordan Addison or we wouldn't play Jordan Addison and of course, he scores Moving forward, though realistically, I mean, they still weren't able to support three receivers on this offense. I mean that was our main point about this. Addison happened to get the ones that ended up going in the end zone, but that could have been Hawkinson and that could have been JJ. Yeah, I mean, how are you feeling about them moving forward here with Nick Mullins?
Speaker 2:I think that this is very Let me put it like this I think that this could be very similar to that of what happened with Aiden O'Connell when he first came in for that of Jimmy G right, he had a couple good games and then, or better yet, let's keep it in Minnesota, josh Dobbs, because teams don't have tape on you on these specific teams right, because they're different schemes. Even though we saw Josh Dobbs play in Arizona right, that doesn't mean that this is the same Josh Dobbs that is going to play in a Kevino-Kanol offense, right, and so it's a little bit different. It's a little bit more nuanced here because, right, they played a Cincinnati Bengals team, right, and it was a really interesting game, really down to the wire. But looking at Detroit, this is a different matchup. This is an NFC North opponent. Minnesota is definitely still in the playoff on, they're vying for the playoffs, and I think that they still have an opportunity if they went out here and have a couple losses from other teams, so they have something to fight for. The problem is, so does Detroit, and Detroit has an opportunity to lock everything up this week.
Speaker 2:And so, john, for me, man, I don't know if I'm willing to start Nick Mullins yet because of the fact that Detroit's defense could be all over him with Aiden Hutchinson right. Who knows what's going to happen with Ty Chandler. That is that a fluke game. Is that a? Is that truly who Ty Chandler is? Which would be incredible if so? But also that factored into how well Nick Mullins played too right Because the run game opened up lanes for Nick Mullins. So I don't necessarily see him being like bare floor, like a Zach Wilson type of thing by any means. I think a good comparable to Nick Mullins this week could be a Tommy DeVito right In the sense of he's not going to have as much rushing yardage, but I feel like that's an appropriate ceiling right. It could be a 19 18 ceiling with a very low floor as well. So I think that I want to make sure we level set expectations.
Speaker 1:In my mind when we're looking at the receivers with Nick Mullins, I see JJ as a wide receiver too, and I see Addison as a flex with upside. Yeah, fair, yeah, okay, all right, let's keep going here. All right, let's get right into Ty Chandler. Let's go into some running backs here. Ty Chandler had a hell of a game 24 points for you and your fantasy team this week, man. I mean, you still got Madison as questionable, still might not play this week, but Ty Chandler, you know, do we throw him out there? Is this somebody who can help you win your league this week?
Speaker 2:John, I'm going to go with a hot take here. I am not starting Ty Chandler this week, even though he is the feature back and coming off of a career game for him. The reason being is because right now that Detroit Rush Defense the Rush Defense, not the overall defense of the past, the Rush Defense is top five in the NFL Okay. So very, very good, Detroit is also coming off an insane game against whoever they and I forget off the top of my head who they ended up playing, but Jared Goff went nuclear Denver on Saturday night. Thank you, Denver, that's correct. So went nuclear.
Speaker 2:So for me, man, no. And after seeing what they did against Javante Williams and Saman JP Rine, no, I'm not willing to roll him out this week against a defense that is top five in the rush. And again, it could have been the perfect time for the perfect game, for how everything broke out for Ty Chandler, or I could be totally wrong and he could end up being a Devon Singletary right who's had multiple 20 point games in a row. However, based on this matchup, I'm looking elsewhere.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, let's get to some receivers here. Man, we had Josh Palmer, your boy. I know you called me before the game and you're like dude, I got a legitimate start sick question here. Do I start Josh Palmer, or was it Josh Downs and Josh Palmer?
Speaker 2:That's exactly what it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you ended up starting Palmer. 21 points for you, all right.
Speaker 2:So Palmer.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, that made the big difference for you With Palmer. Now Keenan Allen might not be playing Austin Eckler, who the hell knows what's going to happen there. Do you play Josh Palmer with? What's the quarterback's name again? Easton Stick, easton Stick. Yes, mr Stick, mr Stick. Do you want Josh Palmer out there with Mr Stick? You?
Speaker 2:know what? Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. Let me frame this up In an eight to 10 league man or a 10 league, 10 man league geez, no, no, no, no. There's better options. Look elsewhere. In a 14 to 16 man league, definitely, because, especially in the double flux, because what we saw is that he has that breakaway speed and Easton Stick was looking his way. Even though he didn't have a lot of targets, he was effective with the targets that he had. So for me, man, I think that he is somebody that would be willing to roll out this week, especially if Keenan Allen is out, because right now, you know, we're looking at an interim head coach stepping into the play. We're looking at Austin Eckler, who's been struggling the running game as a whole has been really bad and then, right, if no other receiver has stepped up. Quentin Johnston has been absolutely terrible this year and Keenan Allen might be hurt. So, yeah, man, that might be him, and Gerald Everett might be the best options for this specific game this week.
Speaker 1:All right, let's look at another guy here. It's kind of he's been a little confusing and just been he's had a quietly had a good year here. Curtis Samuel, wide receiver for the Washington Manders, 18 points last week. With Curtis Samuel, I mean, he's, he's, he's kind of the number one basically when it comes to targets. I mean, is this a guy you can roll out this week?
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what this. I love Curtis Samuel. I love what he's done. He's been fun to watch. He's used in so many different packages. John, this is tough. They're playing at New York Jets, right? Jets defense is amazing. Yes, they got torched by Miami, but it almost makes me feel like this isn't going to happen again, right, in terms of them getting torched. Robert Salah at home is not going to let this defense get decimated again, let alone Sam Howe or Jacobi Bressette right Throwing the ball. And so for me, man, I want to say yes, start him, but I can't. I can't say that this week, strictly due to the matchup and the quarterback carousel here. Who knows what's going to happen, right? Brian Robinson is still banged up. He might be out again. And then you have Antonio Gibson, who really struggled last week, going against a top tier D. I'm looking elsewhere, man.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say to probably just go ahead and sit all your Washington commanders at this point. Yeah, what do you think about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I don't. I think it was such an embarrassing game against Miami that I could see the Jets coming out just wanting to rip people's heads off type of game.
Speaker 1:Ripping some throats, man.
Speaker 2:Hey, we got to shout this receiver out.
Speaker 1:We got to shout this receiver out too. By the way, trey Tucker, rookie wide receiver for the Radas, hey, he's our, he's our boys boy. You know, he's from Akron Ohio, from our, from our home town. Here Trey Tucker scored twice. Great week on you, man, love it. Love to see you. First of all, trey. I know you're not listening, I'm pretty sure you're not listening, but, trey, we'd like to get you on the podcast next year. Let's talk before camp. Let's get you and Tyler Scott out here. Let's see what we can do to get you guys on man. Great game though, last week.
Speaker 1:All right, let's look at some tight ends. Sam LaPorta is amazing. He's beautiful 26 points. He had three touchdowns this past week. I mean, first of all, he is the most productive statistically rookie tight end in NFL history. How much fun is that, by the way. But Sam LaPorta, you got to love having him. We'll have lots of talks about him going into the 2024 season here. Isaiah likely 15 points. It sounded like what we were talking about earlier, frank, that Isaiah likely is really the only pass catcher on the Ravens You're looking at starting this week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100% John, for me. I just I find it, I find it difficult. I find it difficult to look elsewhere. I like Isaiah, likely this week man, I do.
Speaker 1:Trey McBride 15 points. Trey McBride has just exploded. He's been amazing. You're firing him up on all cylinders constantly. Let me ask you about here's a couple of guys who did well Hunter Henry 16 points. Tucker Kraft 13 points. Are you starting either of these two guys this week? So it's interesting.
Speaker 2:I had somebody ask me, john, they have Hunter Henry, but they also have TJ Hawkinson and they asked me who would you rather start? And my initial thought process is, like you're an idiot if you think that you're not firing up TJ Hawkinson. Like why are you asking me this? But I started diving in a bit deeper and there's validity to it, because the last few weeks, john, the last two weeks against Pittsburgh and Kansas City, when they made the quarterback switch to Bailey Zappi right, he has now been dominating to the tune of John. If I look at this, he had three receptions against, or three targets against, pittsburgh three receptions, 40 yards, two touchdowns. And then against Kansas City, john, he had nine targets, seven receptions, 66 yards and a touchdown. Nine targets was his season high, okay.
Speaker 2:And so when I'm looking at this man, I think, yeah, you can start Hunter Henry this week. And when you look at you know who they're going against, john. They're going against that of Denver. Denver's defense against tight ends has not been good either, right. And so, yeah, there's validity here. My question to you is, john, which I actually need a little bit of help on is this a week that you could look at? Right, assuming that it's a double flex, could you actually start Hunter Henry and TJ Hawkinson this week, or would you look elsewhere?
Speaker 1:I would not want to start two tight ends this week. Yeah, I wouldn't want to do that. No, don't get too cute. No, don't get too cute. This is this too important. You need somebody in there that's going to get a lot more targets than what a tight end is going to give you. There's only a handful of tight ends that get that many targets, but yeah, no, I wouldn't look at doing that, absolutely, are you?
Speaker 2:are you rolling out Hunter Henry or TJ Hawkinson, knowing Nick Mullins is throwing the ball?
Speaker 1:That's a tough one, man. You might want to look if Hunter Henry, if they're both, if, all things being equal, and they're both healthy, I absolutely have no issue with starting Hunter Henry, just because he could get a lot more volume than TJ Hawkinson, based on JJ being back, jordan Madison being there, nick Mullins as the quarterback not going to be nearly as many passes coming his way. So, yeah, I have no problem starting Hunter Henry. I mean, really, I think it's a coin toss the tight ends landscape. It's just so difficult. Hawkinson can come out and have four catches and three of them be touchdowns this week. That's just how that can work. But I don't mind it, I don't hate it, don't hate it at all. All right, frank, let's look at, let's get to. I don't know what do you think here, man. Oh, little hit, it's a quiddits baby, let's go.
Speaker 1:Okay, frankie, give me, give me what you got here, man, give me the good sauce, give me the sauce. We got our tier one starts of the week in 12 to 16 team leagues. Frankie, who do we want to start this week, john?
Speaker 2:first and foremost, 12 and 16 man leagues. I'm rolling with that of Trey McBride, tight end for that of Arizona Cardinals playing against that of Chicago. This dude is rocking and rolling with Kyler Murray and it has been fun to watch man Again. He had 15.2 points against that of San Francisco last week and then, prior to that man, he had 18.9 against that of Pittsburgh. But what's been more fascinating than anything I've seen John is the target share going back to week 10, week 10, right, we're at week 16 guys. So he had nine targets week 11, seven targets. Week 12 and 13, nine targets and week 15, 11 targets. John, this dude is a target monster. Start him in a 12 to 16 man league, shit. Start him in an eight to 10 man league and pick his ass up in DFS, because this is a guy against that of the Chicago Bears. What we just saw in Joku, toast them right for the Brown. So I think this is a smash matchup. Start and Trey McBride this week.
Speaker 1:I love it. He's the tight end eight right now. And he really only came into the picture. He was playing less than 50% of snaps until week eight. So that's when Zach Hertz went out and that's when you start seeing those targets six, 14, five, nine, seven, nine, nine, 11. That's a tight end man. That's a tight end. So take advantage of the fact that they don't have any good receivers on this team and they go straight to Trey McBride, Start him up.
Speaker 2:John, the next guy here I'm actually going to roll with Cortland Sutton 12 to 16 man league. There's a little bit of risk here, guys, no question about it, but the thing is is, again, he has that connection with Russell Wilson. There is a lot of good stuff happening. He's the number 19 receiver and half PPR and John. They are playing against a tough defense in that of New England. New England, though, their crux, or where they've struggled, is actually against the past. They've been brilliant against the run, and so for me, man, I think that in order for Denver to win this game which, by the way, they are in the hunt to win, their division with the chiefs are in their division, John, do you on the? Let me repeat that the AFC West is wide open and the Broncos are competing with the chiefs for potentially winning the division If the chiefs drop another Broncos when they are tight.
Speaker 2:So what that means to me is all hands on deck in a must win game, and you have to feed the ball to your best receiver, which is Cortland Sutton man, and then you start peeling back the onion a bit. Well, what has he done in the last few weeks? Well, since week 13, john, week 13,. He had 15.7 points and FPPR week 14, 14.7. And last week, against a very good Detroit team which, by the way, decimated that of Denver, he still put up 9.6 points, with almost double digits there in half PPR, which means that he was over double digits in full PPR. So for me, this week man, I like Cortland Sutton in a larger league, 12 to 16 man.
Speaker 1:Love it. He's a touchdown machine man constantly. Who else you got?
Speaker 2:Number three. Here, man, I'm actually going to roll another little risky play. I'm feeling the risk. This is the semis, right. So I'm going with a ceiling play of that of Dionsey Johnson.
Speaker 2:Dionsey Johnson, with his target share and the way he's being utilized right now, I love it. He's almost quarterback proof at this point in time. Whether it was Kenny Pickett, whether it was Mitchell Trebisky, what we're seeing from Dionsey Johnson is that George Pickens is absolutely taking the safety, the cornerbacks, deep and opening up right these slants, these drag routes, things like that. And then, with Friar Muth taking away the scene, right the linebackers. For those wanting to know a little bit more about football, what happens there is the linebacker will drift with the tight end which opens up the underneath route in front of the linebacker there, and that's where Dionsey Johnson is winning that, in the sideline.
Speaker 2:So for me, man, let's look at what he's done over the last four weeks. Eight targets, five targets, seven targets, six targets. What does that equate to? In the last four weeks, outside of one, he's had double digit points and half PPR. And since John he's come back, he's had more double digit points. Let me put it like this Since week seven, he's had double digit points in every week outside of three weeks. So for me, when I talk about a quarterback proof type of player, this is that type of guy, right? So I'm rolling out Dionsey Johnson in a heavy league. I love it. I love it. John.
Speaker 2:The last guy here and again this is a bit of a stretch he's coming off of a injury, but it's due to the matchup and due to the nature of there's still playoff hopes here, and that is Aaron Jones. I'm firing up Aaron Jones in deep leagues. I'm not talking your eight to 10 man league here, guys, definitely not. You have better options. But in a 12 to 16 man league, aaron Jones is very interesting.
Speaker 2:We saw him finally come back and he only ran the ball 13 times, john. They definitely limited his play, but he still looked good in a negative game script, right, because they were down pretty much the entire game. He had 13 rushes for 53 yards against a pretty good Tampa Bay defense, john. That's about four yards, a little over four yards a carry. And then on top of that he still had four targets for four receptions for 16 yards against a little over four yards a carry Against a Carolina team. I like the upside of Aaron Jones in deep leagues and AJ Dylan is hurt, and so now I can see Aaron Jones getting even more involved there. Right, we saw Kenyan Drake might get called into play, maybe Patrick Taylor a little bit as well. It is Aaron Jones show. I'm excited to see what happens his second week back from injury.
Speaker 1:I'm with you on that one. He's so important to that Green Bay offense man he really is Definitely, and they need to get him. Get him working this week. Okay, let's look at our tier two, eight to 10 team leagues. Frankie, who are we throwing out there? Who do you love?
Speaker 2:John, first and foremost man, it's the guy that I constantly want to kick in the face. I'm not letting that go. I want to kick him right in the fucking face. And you know what he's been excellent this year? It's Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon at Pittsburgh, what we have seen. You can run the ball against Pittsburgh. Nobody's used to it. I'm certainly not used to it, being a Browns fan. They have been dominant for years against the run. This is not one of those years, unfortunately. So for me, man, looking at what Joe Mixon has done over the last three weeks since really week 13, 26.7 points against Jacksonville, 20 points against Indianapolis and then this past week against Minnesota, 13.6 points I see that continuing. They still have playoff hopes and so in a divisional game, they're going to need to rely on Joe Mixon to open up the game for Jacob Browning, knowing that Jamar chases more than one of the best players in the world and they're likely out this week as well. John.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's the number seven running back on the air, averaging over 14 points a game. I mean you got to play him there. But yeah, I think recently his usage out of the backfield as far as targets has been increasing too, and it's been very steady. I like that. So I think that's going to be very important, especially with the pass rush. To get around TJ Watt, the number one thing he can do is dump right over his head, right over to the running back. So look for that, I'm with you. I think Mixon has a very, very good game this week.
Speaker 2:Guys, the next dude I'm talking about, I'm starting him over Saquon. I'm starting him over Josh Jacobs. I'm starting him over many of these guys. I might even start him over Derek Henry. John, it is Rashad White.
Speaker 2:Rashad White has been nothing short of brilliant, of absolute, pure brilliant in the last five weeks. I mean, honestly, longer than that, but it's been so incredible to see his usage up tick. Johnny's the number four running back and half PPR. Rashad White is the number four running back and half PPR. Brilliant man, and with the way that this team is operating, they're feeding off of him. Rashad White is the engine that is making this team go. It is not necessarily Baker, it's not necessarily Mike Evans and it's not necessarily Chris Godwin. It has been Rashad White, not just the rush, but in the passing and receiving end excuse me, not passing in the reception end and receiving yards.
Speaker 2:John, he's been awesome. When we look at his game log here in the last four weeks he had 15 rushes, he had 20 rushes, 25 rushes, 21 rushes, unbelievable utilization. On top of that, let's go to the receiving end, right, two receptions, five receptions, two receptions. Or, excuse me, two targets, five targets. Two targets, two targets. But look at what he's done with the receptions and the targets. John, 10 yards on week 12, or 10 yards, but then it went to 22, 33, and a touchdown and 50 receiving yards and a touchdown as well. So he's getting it done through the receiving end as well as the rushing end. I see this continuing against the Jacksonville team, who has been really raked through the Coles from the rushing perspective. So I love Rashad White. Fire him up anywhere you are able to do so.
Speaker 1:So he's been absolutely amazing. I mean just one, two, three, four, five, five of the past seven weeks he's been a top 12 running back. I mean he's just been fantastic man. He's an auto start right now. Auto start. He's in your starting lineup. No matter what, the guy's been gold man. Love it. Good for you, love that.
Speaker 2:John, I'm going to go to the Browns players here, guys, so remember, this is an eight to 10 man league and so this is a tight end play. I'm talking David and Joku. There are teams, there are people that have reached out to me that said, hey, you know I'm in an eight man league. Do I start David and Joku this week? Some weeks I said probably not based on who they have this week, absolutely man, since we have seen Joe Flacco really come into the fold outside of the, outside of that, at the Rams game, john Jacksonville, he's put up 24 fantasy points against this past week against Chicago, 22 fantasy points and a half PPR. This is a tight end.
Speaker 2:And then you start looking at well, what is this target share? Ben Right, are these just a Hunter? And Rita, where you're throwing him in the end zone and he's pretty much dominant based on touchdowns at this point. No, gentlemen, we look at what he's done. This is, this is crazy over the last few weeks I'm not even going to go through all of them, but let's just say the last few weeks here 14 targets, 10 receptions. Eight targets, six receptions right. Six targets, two receptions, nine targets, six receptions, 15 targets, seven receptions. John, this dude is an auto start in my eyes as well. If you have him or you have the ability to get him maybe he's on a bench, you know, maybe he's not even playing, or whatever it may be in an eight man league get him, start him and enjoy. Flacco is targeting him often.
Speaker 1:Gotta love the chief, and gotta love the chief.
Speaker 2:John. The last guy here that I'm rolling with is Debo motherfucking Samuel. This boy is off and running, dude. I mean it has been nothing short of incredible since he has come back from that bi-week. John, he right now is the 11th overall receiver and half PPR. What we've seen over the last three let's go four weeks right, starting in week 12, he has had. Let's see week 12, he was receiver number nine. Week 13, receiver number two, week 14. Receiver number one and week 15 receiver number nine. What is that? Equate to 18 points, 36 points, 32 points, 20 points Domination.
Speaker 2:Now again, this is a very difficult matchup against Baltimore, but I see them getting extremely creative again. With that of Debo Samuel, we might see him rushing it a little bit more against a really stout defense to open things up for maybe Brandon Iuk. Maybe CMC might play a little bit of slot this week, who knows? With Kyle Shanahan he's a brilliant mind. But what I do know is is, if you have Debo Samuel in an eight-man or even a 10-man league, fire him up. It's a must. Start this week.
Speaker 1:I agree. You know, shannon, I can't wait to see that, just to see what they do with it. It's going to be awesome. He's kind of the X factor player on their offense that you don't know how they're going to utilize him. I mean, how many sweeps are they going to do with him? Are they going to run him in the backfield? Are they going to throw it deep to him? Really interesting stuff. So I agree with you, I think he's the place where, if you're going to attack the offense of the Baltimore Ravens and you're going to confuse the offense, it's a big guy like Debo that can do it for you. All right, let's look at some sits here. Frankie, who do you not like this week?
Speaker 2:John, I'm quitting all the Houston receivers against that of Cleveland, right? I mean, cj Stroud isn't playing. Noah Brown might be the receiver, one which shout out. Man, he actually held it down. He held it down last week Like he really did. But the thing is then Zell Ward is back, greg Newsom is playing out of his mind, and now you have Martin Emerson Jr who looks incredible, and then D'Anthony Bell has just been awesome from a safety perspective. So for me, man Kase, keene, I'm playing against that of the Cleveland Browns. With the way the defense has been playing, I'm not starting any receiver on that of the Houston Texans.
Speaker 1:No, I'm with you on that, man. Not a good week for it.
Speaker 2:No, and John, I'm going to actually do one more there because it's another sit and people might think, well, yeah, no shit, but just in case I'm sitting, damian Pierce Right. I had a few people that said, hey, you know, devon Singletary is definitely taking the line share of the load, but you know, I have Damian Pierce. I'm a little bit banged up things like that. Can I still start him? The answer is absolutely not no. I know your team is injured. I know that there's been some problems.
Speaker 2:Look on the waiver. Look for a high floor kind of guy or somewhat. You know, maybe it's a mere white. Even if Josh Jacobs is out, maybe Ty Chandler even though I said I'm not rolling with him this week I'm definitely rolling with him over that of Damian Pierce Guys, there's tear to the shit. So, yeah, man, look elsewhere. Try to find anything and everything you can do to not start Damian Pierce this week.
Speaker 2:It is not a good matchup, john. The next guy is a bit risky, but for me I'm not willing to put my semifinals on the line. It's Jacobi Myers. Jacobi Myers has been pretty damn good, actually very impressive. The problem is is they're playing against the Chiefs defense, who is number seven In the NFL instead of opposing receivers. And so, yeah, you know, the Vante Adams absolutely could open up the floor for Jacobi Myers to do well, but now, with the emergence of Trey Tucker again, is he going to maybe eat into a little bit more of what we're seeing, that of Jacobi Myers.
Speaker 2:So, with that being said, outside of last week, john, yeah, jacobi Myers looked good. Yeah, he had four targets and he had 32 yards in the touchdown. The touchdown saved him. But the thing is prior to that, man, you look at what he's done Prior to that, uh, chargers game. He had five points against Minnesota. He had 17 points last time against the Chiefs. So you don't think the Chiefs are going to really be king on that. And then you also have six points against that of Miami and three points against that of the Jets. So again, it goes back to certainly he could end up popping off, but knowing what he did against the Chiefs last time, if I'm the Chiefs, I'm making sure that he does not do the same. That's why, man, I'm leaning towards setting him this week. All right, I'm with you there.
Speaker 1:And who's your last one here, Frank? Last one man, it's actually Javante Williams.
Speaker 2:Javante Williams against that of the New England Patriots. New England has been dominant. Against that of the run it is typical Bill Belichick fashion and also what we've seen against that of a good defense in that of Detroit. He had three points right, three fantasy points as a whole against Detroit. John, I don't see him. This is not one that I'm willing to start this week, knowing my semis are on the line. Look elsewhere. He might pop off. He might have a touchdown that salvages the day, maybe get you 11 or 12 points, something like that, but for me it's too risky. I'm going to go somewhere else. That is a little bit higher ceiling. Yeah, I'm with you exactly.
Speaker 1:I just don't think there's so much of a ceiling there at all for Javante, unfortunately. All right, All right, Frank, let's look at some streams here. Man, and we kind of touched on a few of these guys, but what do you got? As far as a quarterback, a tight end and a defensive streamer? Four weeks 16. Specifically, four weeks 16.
Speaker 2:Going with Justin Fields here. Justin Fields versus that of Arizona. We came out Excuse me. We came out and saw DJ Moore after the Cleveland game saying, no, this is our guy, like Darnell Mooney, this is our guy. Justin Fields has been absolutely balling in terms of NFL play. Again, he played against the Stout defense and that of the Cleveland Browns. Last game, however, his receivers let him down, his tight ends let him down. That wasn't all on Justin Fields. So, knowing that he's playing against that of Arizona, we've seen the opposing quarterbacks shred them. So I really like the rushing ceiling that Justin Fields provides, but I also love the matchup for his receivers against this of Arizona. If you have the opportunity, pick him up and use him this week in what might have, unless you have a quarterback that's dominating, et cetera, but he's a great straight.
Speaker 1:I want to see a Tyler Scott touchdown this week. So bad, so bad. I just want to see a nice 30 yard right over the shoulder. And just watch that speed. By the way, do you see his speed? When he caught that pass against the Browns, I was tiptoeing up the sideline. I went oh shit, he's got some juice man. Hey, whoever helped him run a little bit quicker must know a thing or two there.
Speaker 2:Shout out to big Frank Lari over there, baby Training these dudes. But so yeah, Tyler Scott, man, I'm with you. He great game last week. I mean last week he had four targets, three receptions, 49 yards, by far his best game, showed out in front of his home crowd, so it was fun to see, man for sure. Yeah, man, John. For the tight end landscape guys, there's two that really stick out. One is going to be Tucker Kraft to get at Carolina with Luke Musgrave going down. Tucker Kraft has been awesome. He's been such a great stream. Jordan Love loves this guy. Definitely firing up Tucker Kraft If you can get him. The second tight end if Taysum Hill is still banged up, I like John Johnson. John Johnson continues to be the big brute tight end that they can throw up to for the, for touchdown things. Along those lines, If Taysum Hill is still banged up and maybe not playing, you could look to stream that of John Johnson as well, Yep.
Speaker 1:He got a touchdown last week.
Speaker 2:Sure did John. The defenses. I think they're smash plays. I really do. I think both of these are smash plays Broncos defense versus that of New England Right, I love that. And then Bills Bills at the Chargers. I'm salivating even saying that Like I want to put on a Bills jersey because I'm so excited for this defense against this team. John, we talked about it at length at the Chargers, dumpster Fire, bills destroyed their defense. Man against Dallas was impeccable. I mean, that was that was football 101, 2 with T. You held one of the hummus high powered offenses in the NFL. To what? 10 or 13 points. It was brilliant. I'm rolling with the Bills defense against that of the Chargers for sure.
Speaker 1:I love it. Oh yeah, this and that's not a defense people have been sitting on I'm sure that was on the waiver wire Totally yeah, I'm going to put the defense up and play them against this putrid team to this week. All right, okay, good, I love the streamers. Thank you, frankie. Let's look at Thursday night football preview. Here We've got the New Orleans Saints at the Los Angeles Rams, and Sofi Stadium Rams are favored by four points over under a 46. Man. I really want to see the Rams in the playoffs. I want to see the Rams in the playoffs. I want to see the Bills in the playoffs. Can we get those two teams in please? All right, saints, I'm going to put the Saints man Kamara Kamara is.
Speaker 2:it's Kamara all day, every day. Love him outside of him. John, I know this is a hot take Unless Chris Olave is playing, I'm not starting any other player unless I need to stream John Johnson or somebody like that. I just don't think for the semis guys, I'm willing to roll out AT Perry, I'm willing to roll out Rashid Shahid. I'm not willing to put that on, you know, on display for my team. So for me, man, it really comes down to Alvin Kamara. That I feel super good about. Definitely Chris Olave if he's playing, and then maybe you can stream one of the tight ends.
Speaker 1:What about Derek Carr? Is this a guy you can put out there, or is there just not going to be enough pass volume for?
Speaker 2:him. John, that floor is so low for Carr, we've seen it, and so that's what makes me nervous. He had a great game last game, for sure, but with that floor being so low, I'm looking elsewhere, man. I could see Aaron Donald, just, you know, just destroying this offensive line. If I'm being honest with you, and the fact that both teams need to win this game in order to win, and it's in LA, I'm just not willing to roll out Derek Carr this week.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, talk to me about the Rams here. Yeah, matthew Stafford's been playing out of his goddamn mind man. He's been a smash play. He's been on the cover of our episode for a few weeks. Here. We've been calling it. We've been right. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Though this is not a smash play for Matthew Stafford, though. He's been playing excellent. He seems healthy. New Orleans pass defense is very good. It is good, but I just think we're If the talent around him and with the coaching they're really seem to be hitting their stride. This team, this team seems red hot right now, and when a team's red hot like that, I like staying in the flames with the quarterback. Do you think you can stream or start Matthew Stafford this week?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do, I do and I know this is a tough matchup and it goes against, like some of the things that we've said previously in terms of, well, if a matchup and you really want to you know more of a lower floor kind of guy. What we're seeing from Matthew Stafford is his floor isn't that low. Since the bye week, john, it's been actually pretty high and he's played against some really good teams, like that of Baltimore, like that of Cleveland, like that of even the Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh, for example. Right, so for me, man, they've played, they're tried and true team that have played against some dominant teams, and for me, I'm firing them up. I'm starting Matthew Stafford this week and I'm actually going to put my money where my mouth is and I'm doing it. I'm actually doing it in my fantasy football semi-finals. So, yeah, love Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 2:John, you're firing up Cooper, you're firing up Puka, you're firing up Kyren and, honestly, you might even be able to fire up Tyler Higbie, depending on you know what your situation looks like from a tight end. If you need kind of a flyer as well, maybe some of the other guys that we mentioned are not available from a streaming perspective. Maybe Tyler Higbie is. That's a guy as well that you might be able to take a flyer on from a tight end perspective.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think it could be difficult for Puka and Akua this week. They do, just with the pass off, a defense that New Orleans has. I think it could definitely be a Cooper Cup smash play this week. I could see him getting like 10 targets this week. Could be very interesting.
Speaker 1:Kyren Williams, the guy's been awesome. The guy has been a stud. Start him, play him, enjoy it. Yeah, all right. Anything else on this game, frank? No, we're good here. All right, we're good here. Well, let's touch on real quick. We got a couple of Saturday games. I know we're going long, guys, but just one episode this week and it's Christmas, merry Christmas. Saturday games here. Frankie, afc North Showdown Cincinnati Bengals at the Pittsburgh Steelers Bengals favored by two over under a 37. Not expecting a lot of scoring out of this game here. What do you think, though? We talked a little bit. You love Joe Mixon. Yeah, we talked about T Higgins. We love him. Not so big on Tyler Boyd, like you said before. Okay, what about the Steelers here? You love Deontay Johnson. Yep, talk about the rest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, john, this is interesting, right, because I'm not willing to roll out George Piggins this week. No way, no way, after what we've seen the turmoil that's happened. So I'm sitting him, definitely willing to, as long as he's healthy and willing to fire up a fryer muth again. He's been kind of hot and cold so it hasn't been a grand slay him of the start, but he's definitely somebody that I would put in the mix there to start my tight end spot. Now here's the interesting thing Are we rolling with Jalen Warren?
Speaker 2:Are we rolling with Najiaris and John? One of them are going to perform against this Cincinnati team. We saw what Tyler or Ty Chandler did, right, we saw teams run against that of the Cincinnati Bengals, and so it's going to be one of these guys. And so for me, we don't know Mason Rudolphs at the helm. We haven't seen it. We haven't seen Mason Rudolph this year at the helm with Jalen Warren, right First and foremost, and secondly with Najiaris. And so pick your poison. I mean, flip a coin. I'm rolling with one of them. I would probably lean slightly, ever so slightly maybe, to that of Jalen Warren, just because if they're down, they might need to do some check downs. They might need to get him going in the past game. That's strictly speculation. If you have Najiaris, I'm probably firing him up. If you have Jalen Warren in a deeper league, I'm probably firing him up and saying a prayer. But, john, what are your thoughts? Man on these two backs, this is tough.
Speaker 1:It is tough. It truly is 50-50. And you know just as Jalen Warren was taking the job they fired Matt Canada and the new offensive coordinator loves Najiaris. Yeah, though it really is 50-50. I mean it just it depends on what. Are they going to specifically draw up a play for any of these guys? You really just need to have one of these guys hit a big play.
Speaker 1:I think Jalen Warren has the more opportunity and the more I think he has the best chance of breaking that 50-yard run. Jalen Warren does the Najiaris, but Najiaris played very well. I was this close to being out on Najiaris forever and then he's been revived. So I think it's unlikely. You've got both of these guys. I think if you have both of these guys, I think the upside play, the higher ceiling, could potentially be Jalen Warren with the receiving or with the big playability. But if you've got either of these guys, yeah, I think you can play them both. I really do. I mean, I don't.
Speaker 1:I think it's going to be tough to expect a ton out of these guys with this offense. I just don't think this offense is going to do it lot this week, but they're going to run the ball, they're going to get some opportunity. So I think you can play them both, I think. Cross the fingers, cross the fingers, baby. Yeah, all right, let's look at the other game here Buffalo Bills at the LH Chargers. Wow, this game Buffalo is favored by 11.5 points of the 44 point over under. Okay, let me ask this a simple question here, with the Chargers, we'll start there. Is there anyone you are willing to start for the Chargers this week to get you to your Super Bowl?
Speaker 2:In a deep league, john, I'm willing, with injuries there, and if Kenan Allen is out, there's a lot of factors. Josh Palmer potentially, that is definitely one. Gerald Everett another tight end that absolutely could see some serious volume from Easton Stick, knowing they're probably going to be down, knowing that they're going to put him in a position to throw the ball quite often. So I like that, john. The question is Austin Eckler. Do you start Austin Eckler If you have him? In my opinion, if he plays, you have to start him. More than likely. You don't have truly a better option Now.
Speaker 2:If you're sitting there staring at Austin Eckler in an eight to 10 man league against X, y and Z, I'm going with X, y and Z, Right, I just am. But if you're in a deeper league, I think you have to still start Austin Eckler, unless he is not playing. I mean, it's it's not a sexy start, it is a risk and it is your semi -finals. But the upside of Eckler is so large that he could end up coming back and saying you know it's, screw you, I'm playing for a contract. Anyways, I'm out of the chargers, you know. I know I'm not going to be here. So, whatever, I'm going to play and show you why I deserve to be on another team. That could end up being it, or we could end up seeing them saying screw you to Austin Eckler and saying we're going to run Isaiah Spiller and see what we got and Josh Kelly and see what we got. So it's really tough man. So. But I would say I would probably still start Eckler if he is playing.
Speaker 1:I'm worried about it. I mean, you have me too and our our buddy on YouTube, gabriel, always gives us these crazy ass start sits, you know, with the 10 man league, and Austin Eckler is always in that, in that group it's. It seems like. I don't think I'm playing him man. I'm really concerned about this. Austin Eckler is not going to be on the team next year, but it's not going to happen.
Speaker 1:I why would he want to play? Why would he want to risk injury? He doesn't have anything to prove. Everyone knows who Austin Eckler is. He doesn't have to go out there and like Justin Fields and say I need to show that I can ball, I need to make sure that I play because I'm auditioning for a team. I don't think he is man. I think he's just kind of lost in the fold and he's probably looking at it saying these motherfuckers are going to run me to the ground if I play. I don't think I want to do this. You know, for his own career, I'd be very, very nervous about Austin Eckler just because of the situation.
Speaker 2:With you. It's tough, it's sticky, it's gross, it's truly in the air man.
Speaker 1:All right, let's look at the bills. Here, man, I mean the bills, stefan Diggs. Since the change of the offensive coordinators here the receivers they're Gabe Davis zero, zero, zero, zero. I mean, he's just not boom bust anymore, he's just lost.
Speaker 1:He's just lost. You know Stefan Diggs. I mean they have not been just featuring these guys in the past game at all. It's been so run heavy. James Cook might be the league winner. I mean just absolute smash play. James Cook has been fantastic. He's averaged over 140 yards in the past three games. Come on, man, just craziness. Now, one thing I do want to touch on is are you worried about Stefan Diggs? And I want to talk about Dalton Kincaid for a minute. So touch on Stefan Diggs here. Are you playing him? Is he an auto start?
Speaker 2:For me. I'm still riding in the flames with Stefan Diggs. His ceiling is too high. You know what Josh Allen, what John, threw for 94 yards last week and he didn't even need to do it, he didn't even need to be the guy to win this week. It could be some of the same. That's what makes me a little bit nervous, but I still think you've got to start Stefan Diggs in your semifinals. The ceiling is there, the upside is there. This team I mean he could score on the first play of the game. That is how dynamic Stefan Diggs is with Josh Allen. So I am definitely still starting Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 2:Now the question is Dalton Kincaid? John, no, I'm not starting Dalton Kincaid this week. He's a little bit banged up. He has a questionable tag as it is.
Speaker 2:On top of it, Dawson Knox is back. We told people last week, after him being one of our starts a few weeks before, to sit him last week because Dawson Knox was back and that he was a little bit banged up. Well, he had zero points, he had two targets and zero receptions. So, john, I don't like it this week. He was. You know, he's banged up. You have so much competition to get this ball now. And let's assume what happens if the bills do run away with this. You think that they're really going to be throwing the ball that much. So there's higher ceiling plays and, honestly, safer floor plays than that of Dalton Kincaid this week. And so when I'm thinking about, okay, if I'm playing and this is a real life example if I'm playing Stefan Diggs on one team and I also have Dalton Kincaid as my tight end John, I'm not rolling both of those guys out this week because of the ability for them to just trounce that of the chargers. And so for me, man, I'm totally looking elsewhere from a tight end perspective as a whole, I'm not even willing to start Dawson Knox or Dalton Kincaid this week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I don't think you can start him right now. I mean, you look at his utilization and since the change with the offensive coordinators, they've been focusing way more on the run. And with them focusing on the run, Dalton Kincaid is not that great of a pass blocker or a run blocker. He's a little smaller frame. He's the receiver. He's basically a receiver tight end. Dawson Knox is the bigger body guy. He's the guy who's great on the run blocking. So I think that's why you're going to see a lot of 12 personnel. That's why you're seeing Dawson Knox rather than Dalton Kincaid, and I think that continues this week. They're not going to have to throw a lot of the ball here, man, they're going to run the ball quite a bit. Now that's a good question here is that can you start any of the other running backs Latavius Murray or Damian Harris, and it's just?
Speaker 2:no, I'm not willing to do that Again. If we're talking a normal week, not playoffs, yeah, why not give it a try? If you need to injuries, maybe a Keaton Mitchell? Maybe we're banging on him, maybe you were banking on right another running back that you know, josh Jacobs, maybe that's been banged up and out. So for me, man, no. This week, though, absolutely not the way James Cook is being utilized and yeah, he has a sickness, so all this stuff. He's a little bit ill, he's away from practice, but again, it doesn't matter. He's going to play. I know he's going to play. I don't know that definitively, but I can tell you that from pure speculation, that he's more than likely going to play. And what we've seen, he's been brilliant, he's been absolutely brilliant. And so, no, I'm not willing to look at Damian Harris or that of Latavius strictly, because a volume and B, it's the semis. Put your best players in and let them rock Like. This is not a time to go for a really cute play just because you think they're going to jack up the score, right.
Speaker 2:We've seen crazier things happen, john. We've seen the Cleveland Browns beat the 49ers with PJ Walker. We have seen massive, massive upsets. Who's to say the Easton stick doesn't come out and say fuck you to the bills. And now we have something crazy happening. And now they got to throw the ball. It's not likely, it's not even probable. But what I'm saying is it's the NFL. Any given Sunday, anything crazy can happen, and so I mean we just saw Drew Locke beat the Eagles. Who would have seen that coming? So again, what I'm getting at is no, I'm not willing to start Latavius or Damian Harris, for a variety of reasons that I named. Go with your best players. This is the week to do it.
Speaker 1:I love it. Thank you so much, everybody. That is our show for this week. Good luck to you and your semifinals. I want to see some frankly fantasy championships out there. Let's go. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at frankly fantasy football, and you're watching us right now on YouTube. Thank you so much. Please, if you haven't, please subscribe, comment, share, like all of that shit. You push all those buttons. That really helps our channel, guys, and you've really helped us out this year all season long. Really appreciate it. And please listen Spotify, Apple, Google Play, everywhere podcasts are found. Please subscribe to that as well. Help us boost some numbers in there as well. Okay, guys, Frankie, what are we looking at for next week, man?
Speaker 2:Guys, we're going to be diving in to get you ready for your Super Bowl push. You want some money, you want to smell that and be like, oh yeah, I just spent a shit ton on Christmas. I better get backfill that. We're going to just hammer that around. We'll be better tuned in because we're going to be diving in or to give you the best fantasy advice we can absolutely provide and I promise you you're going to have a fun time doing it All right.
Speaker 1:Good luck everybody. Have a great week. Happy and safe holidays to everybody this week. Hopefully Santa can bring you a chance at Christmas with that, all right. May the fantasy gods smile upon you. Bye.