Slow Starts

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio. Time
now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Source for the nation's best fantasy speculation and advice.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Now along with the guys.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
From Guillotine Leagues dot com.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Here's your host, Paul Jarge. It's a week two edition
of Fantasy Football Weekly. So many questions answered, finally after
Week one. We've been speculating for six months about what
might happen in Week one.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Now we know.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
My co hosts today, Scott Fish and Brian Johnson back
in studio.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
What's up boys? You know I have to fly in
for Sam Darnold's home debut. Yeah. Absolutely, I'm looking around
the studio for my tickets, though, why you gotta go
get some? I could have sworn Sam himself would have
sent me some. By now I'm really been supportive and
there's more to come in this episode, by the way,
but happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
We'll learn more about Sam Darnold and talk more about
him later in the show. We're gonna break down all
fifteen of the games we left on the slate. We're
gonna go through Take a chance with me like always? Well,
answer three tough questions and we'll give you some premature speculation.
There's a lot to get to over the course of
the show, and guys, with fifteen games, we got to
jump right into it to it beginning with Scott Fish. Yeah,

(01:22):
Chargers taking on the Panthers. JK. Dobbins a bit of
a revel Lakes in week one. Feels like the good
times are gonna keep coming against the Panthers.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
It feels like it. I almost gave him an A grade.
I gave him a B grade, but I can easily
see it being in A grade. I think part of
me worries that Gus Edwards is gonna take twelve carries again,
even though he was looking not productive. He looked completely done.
Eighteen percent success rate on that two point three yards
per touch and Gus Edwards no touches inside the ten.
So I got Gus on the bench. Gave a B

(01:52):
to JK. Dobbins, who, uh, thirteen point five yards per touch.
That's not gonna happen again. And he was caught down
from behind, much like briese All was coming off freest
Hall's injury a couple of years ago.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Now he was caught from behind on that long run
but I'll note, Yeah, he got clocked at twenty miles
an hour yeap, which I did not think. JK. Dobbins
had just ran out of gas.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
The eyeball say that the camp pipe and the steady
offseason drum beat was real, and Carolina just gave up
one hundred and seventy two total yards and two scores
to Kamara and Jamal Williams. So great.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Somebody had mentioned Jamal Williams. Yeah, that's a potential take
a chance.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
On me playing. Yeah, yeah, good job on that.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh sorry, I had JK. Dobbins as my take a
chance on me player. Okay, I think Mistermal Williams my premature.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
I don't know anyway, just just keep pickocking and ex
put that on loop for the rest of the show.
Justin Herbert, I'm giving a C grade too, and I
could barely give him that because I feel like they
get ahead of Carolina and Harbaugh's just going to run
the game out. Justin Herbert, last week the second lowest
passing yards and second lowest pass attempts of his career

(02:55):
when playing a full game. That is the Jim Harbaugh effect.
I'm a little worried too, but Carola just gave three
scores to car The Saints changed dough season went pre
snap motion a ton, so maybe that was part of it.
But last week the Panthers had the lowest pressure rate
in the NFL, so they're not going to even get
to get to Herbert. So he's going to be able

(03:15):
there to be to pick him apart at the times
he does throw. Given a C grade to Ladd McConkie,
who seems to be the number one wide receiver there
for the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, it helps the Charks out and Palmer's hurt.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yes, yes, Palmer's hurt might not play well. We'll see
if he goes. If he doesn't, Brendan Rice will come in.
But I got them on the bench. Quentin Johnson, despite
the five targets and a really high first read target percentage,
I have him on the bench. I just can't trust
him yet. I know that he's got the large A dot,
but Ladd McConkie seems to be the volume guy that
he's going to go to. None of McConkie's targets went

(03:52):
twenty plus air yards though, so it's a lot of
short stuff. But in PPR you're liking the reception, so
c grade on McConkie, hayden Hurst not volume to really
do anything with there, so he's still on the bench.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Are there any Panthers to start Scott.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
No, there's not. I don't have a single one. Miles
Sanders and Chuba Hubbard are splitting. It was eleven touches
to ten. You know, Hubbard did more snaps, but he
didn't even get a target, so they're splitting too much.
The offense. I mean, Bryce Young completed under half his passes.
It was all spread around and Xavier Legette look decent.

(04:28):
It might be something to keep an eye on there,
but he just ran twenty three routes fifty nine percent
of the snaps. But he led the team in targets,
so he was barely on the field, but he got
a bunch of targets. Deanty Johnson is the one people
are probably most interested in, but he was second in targets,
but he only got two of them, and the aid
out was really low. You need a lot of volume
if you have an eight out that low, and he
just wasn't getting it. So I got him all on

(04:50):
the bench.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
I don't blame him. Saints take on the Cowboys. Brian
Obviously a massive delta between last week's opponent the Panthers
this week's defense the Cowboys. Mike Zimmer's defense looked awesome
last week. So which Saints do you dare start in
a much tougher game?

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Got a few worth starting, but like you said, definitely
a tougher matchup in the Cowboys than they saw in
the Panthers last week. Starting with the Alvin Kamara gonna
give him a bee. We saw a vintage Kamara in
Week one, but again, Cowboys will be a much tougher
test than the poorest Panthers were. That said, Jerome Ford
touched the ball twenty plus times against the Cowboys last week.
Kamara should do the same volume wise, So seems like

(05:31):
a safe bea to me here, always active in the
passing game. Going to start him with confidence while you
can while he's healthy early in the season. Chris o'lave
can give him a ce. He was not startable in
Week one, only saw two targets that was not his fault.
The game script fell out of his favor pretty quick.
He was a lost Sunday for him. It could be
the case this week against the Cowboys, but for very

(05:51):
different reasons. The Cowboys gave up the second fewest wide
receiver touchdowns last year with eleven. Only two wideouts were
able to reach one hundred undred yards against Dallas all
season last year. I was borderlininging a bench olave. But
a guy you took in the second round, I think
he got to roll him out there, and the Saints
will be chasing points presumably presumably the other way exactly,

(06:14):
And for that reason, I'm sticking sticking with Rashid Shiheed
with the starting grade. As the see had a big
game last week, he got, he got the party started
for the Staints again. A bad much worse matchup this
week against the Cowboys, But the Saints will need to
pass in this game, and they will take shots downfield
with the Shiheed, so he gets the soft sea. Juwan
Johnson Foster Moreau that tight end both scored last week,

(06:37):
but both are on the bench this week. The Cowboys
allowed the fewest receptions to tight ends last year, and
there's clearly a rotation going on that also includes Taysom
Hill kind of, but I always give Taysom Hill a
bench grade. You can start him at your own risk,
but you cannot predict what Taysom Hill is going to do.
He's a DFS flyer in my mind, and Derek Carr
solid game against the Panthers, but he's not playing the

(06:59):
pay Yeah he was. Probably he's the top three quarterback
last week. Probably not gonna happen this week against Dallas.
I got him on the bench. There are better options
out there over to the Cowboys side, starting with Ezekiel
Elliott and Rico Dowdell. I have both on the bench
in this game. Here are the rush attempts for each
last week. Zeke had nine, Dowdell had eight. Z had

(07:20):
two targets. Dowdell had two targets. Something called hunter loop
Key was also targeted twice. And opposing running backs scored
against the Saints only nine times last year. So bad
matchup for Zeke and Dowdell. They are bench.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
It's the edge though, because of the goal line case. Yes,
I would give see if I had to pick.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
One, if you had to pick one, but I'm going
elsewhere if I can Ceedee Lamb automatic a not getting
into that regardless of opponent. Brandon Cook's gonna give him
a c. Jalen Tolbert was to be stealing targets from
Brandon Cooks this year. That has not been the case
so far. Cook saw seven targets to Tolbert's one in
the opener, So Tolbert is on the bench, Cooks gets

(08:00):
to see and uh, this is the og revenge game
for Brandon Cooks against his first original team. Brandon Cooks
qualifies for like four revenge games at this point. I'm
not there, but this is the most important one. And lastly,
for the pass catchers, Jake Ferguson looked like he suffered
a season ending knee injury last week, but he has
not been ruled out as of the recording of this show.

(08:22):
But even if he plays, I can't trust him to finish.
I'm gonna I'm gonna bench out. Yes, you need to.
You need to plan for a backup plan for Jake Ferguson.
And lastly, Dak Prescott just to see here, another tough
matchup for Dak. The Saints allowed the tenth lowest yards
per attempt and the ninth fewest fantasy points per game
to quarterbacks last year, but Dak tough to bench gets

(08:42):
to see.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
All right, Let's move over to Raiders taking on the
Ravens and the disappointing start for Zamir White. Yeah, expected
more carries. Alexander Madison very involved in the passing game,
is the third down back. But here's here's why I've
still got to see great on Zimir White. The Ravens
have a great pass defense. We'll talk about a little
bit more. They finished the Pro Football Focuses Number two
coverage defense last year, and then last week, despite playing

(09:04):
Patrick Mahomes, they finished as Pro Football Focuses Number three
pass defense. The path of least resistance for the Raiders
is on the ground, and Antonio Pierce is gonna run
the ball a lot in this game. I'm convinced of it.
Last week, Pierce got away from running the ball and
he lost. Through one game, Baltimore ranks thirtieth in run

(09:25):
stuff win rate. I'm just convinced Pierce is gonna go
back to being who he is and he's gonna run
the ball.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, they got they got like three defensive players out too,
like vet NEI might not play. Then one of their
pass rushers might not play too.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
So let's I'm not giving up on Zamir Wait. I'm
giving another start here. Let's go to the passing game, well, well,
stay with the running game for a second. Madison. I'm
not gonna chase last week's box score, but let's not.
Madison has emerged as the third down back. Is on
the field for all ten of the Raiders plays at
long down and distant situations last week. So I didn't

(10:00):
see this coming for Alexander Madison, but that's what we
have through one game. That's not enough usage for him
to start against a good Ravens pass defense. Speaking of
the good Ravens pass defense, Devonte Adams a rare B
grade to the level of difficulty in a matchup against
those excellent secondary they've got in Baltimore, Marlon Humphrey, Kyle
Hamilton's awesome and then first round rookie Nate Wiggins in

(10:24):
his first start last week against Patrick Mahomes gave up
one catch in his coverage. That's it. So I do
not love DeVante Adams here. How about Brock Bauers. I
love the playing time from week one. He ran thirty
one routes, saw whopping seven targets, he caught six of those,
and to really nobody's surprise, Bowers looks legit. Ravens gave

(10:45):
up seventy one yards to Noah Gray and Travis Kelcey
last week. So we're gonna keep a starting great on
Bowers with a C grade Jacoby Myers, who this show
loves Jacoby Myers.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yep, yeah we do.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
But I don't love this matchup. He lines up a
little more than half of the time in the slot,
which should line him up primarily against star hybrid safety
Kyle Hamilton, who I mentioned before. Last week. Weirdly, Hamilton
didn't line up in the slot very much despite the
fact that Rashid Rice was eating up that defense. I
wonder if they don't shift Hamilton more into the slot

(11:18):
for this one to try to defend Myers. But still,
I kind of like him, and he's a good player.
I'm keeping a SE grade on him.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Can I start a position that you now call him
should have been a Viking? Kyle Hamilton, Just stop tearing
my heart out with that.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
And so that leaves us with Gardner Minshew clocks into
the SEA grade. I've got b's, I've got a B
in two C grades. Gardner Minshew look capable last week,
not special. He probably finishes at a similar box score
like two hundred and forty yards and a touchdown C
grade for him to go to the Baltimore side. Lamar
Jackson obviously a grade. We're not going to spend time
on him. The real question in this passing game what

(11:54):
to do with your tight ends? Yes, I'm going a
grade and Isaiah Likely. Okay, we've loved him for four years.
We loved him in the preseason of his rookie year.
He was the highest scoring tight end in Week one.
He looks like a focal point for the Ravens offense.
He dominated Mark Andrews last Thursday, walked away with an
amazing nine point nine out of ten utilization score by

(12:15):
Dwayne McFarlane. He got thirty four percent of the team's targets,
forty percent of the air yards, and posted a nine
point four a dot, which is awfully impressive. I don't
know why you wouldn't go back to Likely.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
So I'm and a second touchdown missed by a literal toe. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
he's legit.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
So what to do with Mark Andrews? Then I'm not
benching him. No, I'm going to keep him as a
C grade here because I think he's too good a
player and.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
The Chiefs have always done that to Mark Andrews.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
That's a good point too. They bracketed him constantly. I
saw a break down of a bunch of clips and
they were.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Just they double covered. He got double covered the highest
percentage of his plays in the last three years in
that game. Oh wait, yep, oh.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's great data. So you know, we know Mark anderws
is but he's you know, rare times that he's healthy.
I just I'm not I'm not gonna bench him here.
The Raiders are not going to, I think, do that
same kind of bracket coverage and just leave Isaiah likely
to run free. So I think you'll see a lot
less coverage. See grad and Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers. I

(13:16):
love that he got eight targets in the opener, but
I need him to be farther than four yards downfield.
It's hard to accumulate fantasy points like you were just saying,
Scott at four yards a clip. Tricky matchup against Las
Vegas's corners Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones, who combined to
allow fourteen yards in their coverage in Week one. Raider
secondary is sneaky competent, and then Rashod Bateman. I've got

(13:40):
on the bench. It's a tricky matchup. I liked that
he was on the field a lot and that they
targeted him deep. His aight out was like twenty eight
yards or those things. Yeah, jeez, but need I need
Rashod Bateman to have an easier matchup before throwing darts
on him. Then, lastly, Derrick Henry. Raven's offensive line looked
discombobulated last week, and Henry really he needs good blocking
to be effective. He needs lanes to run through. The

(14:02):
Raiders gave up two big plays at JK. Dobbins, but
otherwise actually looked very stout against the run. They dominated
Gus Edwards, and they finished with Pro Football focuses fifth
ranked run defense and ESPN's eighth best run stuff win rate.
So I'm only gonna be great on Derrick Henry here
until I see that Ravens offensive line looked a little
bit better than it did last week. When we come back,

(14:25):
take a chance on me nine players not normally in
your starting lineup. We'll give you some sneaky plays that
you can use for week number two. Back in moments,

(15:19):
take a chance on me nine players you would not
normally start, but this week for various reasons. All plausible
starters would begin at the quarterback position.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Scott Fish before we do. That song is really growing
on me. But I didn't realize that line is well,
thanks Robbie. That line is when you're with me, you
always smile or something like, it's really arrogant, arrogant.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
I don't know. I don't know about that.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
All right, all right, at quarterback. I have Baker Mayfield
highest over under the week, playing the lines this week
at fifty two points, only sixty six percent roster twenty
six percent started. I think you need to get in
get him in there. Three hundred and forty nine yards
and three scores in their playoff matchup a year ago
or in the playoffs. I suppose that was earlier this

(16:03):
year in January. Four scores last week, and reports where
he was out of shape last year because the new baby,
it's clear he is back to being in fall shape.
And Matthew Stafford just tagged the Lions for three hundred yards.
So I think this is a good spot for Baker.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, for sure, Really like Baker, loved what we saw
in week one. Happy for his development as a pro too. Brian,
you're taking chance with me quarterback.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
You know, I gotta go with Sam Donald. I've been
taken a chance on him since the spring. I know
it's not the best matchup in the forty nine ers,
but hey, the Vikings beat the forty nine ers at
home last year. And you know who was playing for
the forty nine ers last year, mister McCaffrey, Sam Donald,
Sam Donald, I think playing well, he was watching. He
was watching the defense a whole lot. You put it

(16:49):
that way, So still forty nine er a revenge game.
He's gonna prove the forty nine ers kept the wrong
quarterback too. Sorry brock Perty, but Sam Donald's a baller,
said it all summer. He can play and this is
for that's real chance in the NFL. Best wide receiver
in the world. No Jordan Nadison. That hurts, but hey,
the Jets quarterbacks combined for two passing touchdowns last week,
one being Tyrod Taylor. That's the safe floor for Sam Darnold. Baby,

(17:10):
let's go.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Justin Fields takes on Denver and really sad that we
don't get the Russell Wilson revenge game against the team
that tried to extort him last year and is now
currently paying Russell Wilson salary to go beat them. I
really wanted this to revenge that revenge game. But we'll
go with Justin Fields instead. Last week third most quarterback
rushes fourteen. But I think in addition to legs, I

(17:34):
think his arm chips and some help here. Fields played
the Broncos last year. I guess er happened to remember
what he did three hundred yards and four. I didn't
think Fields ever had a game that good through the air.
That's an amazing stat. Broncos ranked thirty second in coverage
last year by Pro Football Focus, and after one week

(17:56):
they ranked twenty second last week, and that was against
a Seahawks team that could bear field and offensive line.
Justin Fields might take a chance on me quarterback. Let's
go to the running back position, Scott.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
So I did have Tank Bigsby, but then I thought
to myself, I can't do that to charge that stake Churches, guy,
I just gotta I gotta walk away from that. So
I'm picking Tank. But no, I'm just kidding. I'm vicking.
I'm gonna go with Bucky Irving. In that same shootout,
the Tampa Bay Detroit shootout, he was much more effective
on the ground than White, but White was much more
effective through the air. Bucky Irving last week among running

(18:27):
backs was number one in explosive run rate six point
nine yards per carry. If he can get ten ten carries,
ten twelve carries in this what is likely to be
a very high scoring game, he can do something for you.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, I'm with I thought. I thought the passed Bucky
Irving passed the eye test for sure.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
My Son's sleeper from the preseason show, right, I love it?

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah? Absolutely, Uh, Brian, you're taking chance at me?

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Running back I got Denver is Julie McLoughlin against the
Steelers at home in Denver, I mean McGlaughlin at home.
McLoughlin was slightly outsnapp by Javonte Williams in Week one,
but he was the clear pass catching option as he
saw the second most targets among all Broncos. Rookie quarterback
Bo Nicks had an a dot of a measly five
point eight yards in his debut. That's balls seared right

(19:10):
into Juliel's wheelhouse. I like to call that the Jaleel house.
So Julila McLoughlin, let's go.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Tony Pollard takes on the Jets. The Jets pass defense
remains awesome. They bottled up Rock Purty. The path of
least resistance against the Jets is on the ground, and
we saw it on Monday night. And Lord knows, the
Titans do not want to rely and will Levis for
a win. If they want to win, they need to
be able to run the ball. Here, Pollard dominated the
snap counts and rushing attempts over Tajy Spears, which broke

(19:37):
my heart. But that's just the reality of it. And
then he chipped in four targets, which I did not
expect from Tony Pollard. He averaged five yards per carry
in the opener, and the Jets allowed Jordan Mason to
run for five yards per carry last week. We're gonna
get five yards per carry out of Pollard.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
In this game.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
He's gonna have a nice one, he would. Let's go
to the the receivers.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Sure, I'm going to the second highest scoring potential game
on the DOC with the second highest over under at
forty nine points. That's the Arizona Los Angeles Rams game,
where I'm going to one of my preseason sleepers. Michael Wilson,
who scored last week, ran around on ninety two percent
of their d dropbacks. He plays the Jamison Williams role,

(20:16):
and we know Jamison Williams just torched the same Rams
team last week.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Just a good spot for him, all right, you're receiver,
Brian I.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Got the Jets Allen Lazard at Tennessee. Lazard and Garrett
Wilson were the only wide receivers targeted in Week one
for the Jets. Lazard was targeted at healthy nine times,
nine times, one which went for a touchdown. The Bears
wideouts didn't do much, didn't do much against Tennessee last week,
but they were operating with a rookie quarterback in his debut.
Aaron Rodgers is as old as two rookies combined, and

(20:49):
he obviously has a strange obsession. He is, and he
has a strange obsession with shrooms, lizards and lizard's.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Blizards and blazards. How is it with all the animal
sounds we've got available to us?

Speaker 2 (21:02):
What is a wizard?

Speaker 1 (21:04):
What is a How do we have no aliblizard? I
guess probably because we don't know it sound a lizard?

Speaker 2 (21:09):
I am the lizard King. I can do anything. Scott,
how do.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
You like Jalen McMillan.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, you know, I like him. I went off board
with him in the pre season.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, you did, baby, and he got paid for a
touchdown in the first and by the way, could have
been two touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, and if you saw that, you know.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
So, Tampa's got Mike Evans, They've got Chris Godwin, and
then they've got Jalen McMillan, who led the team in
snaps and rounds run at the wide receiver position in
his NFL debut.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Be a problem.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
He's gonna be a problem, and maybe this week against
Detroit he's going to be frequently running against rookie cornerback
Terrrian Arnold for Detroit, who allowed eight catches in his
NFL debut last week. Jalen McMillan, I like him in
this spot. Let's work in a couple more matchups. Scott,
back to you. Brown's taking on the Jaguars. Deshaun Watson

(21:59):
looked awful, He looked disinterested. He I saw a player
who seemingly has lost the will to win.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's kind of the gist of it.
I have him on the bench. He got hit nineteen
times last week. Really, that's that's still eight less than
the lawsuits against him, but he's nineteen times savage. Only
seven times in NFL history has a QB passed for
less than one hundred and seventy yards on forty five

(22:34):
or more pass attempts, but somehow Deshaun witz Watson did
it last week. Also, both his tackles aren't practicing, so
he might see some more pressure this week because of that.
The only wide receiver I'm giving a starting grade too
is Amari Cooper, who might be in the squeaky greasy
mousey wheel type game, very frustrated during the game during plays,

(22:57):
and you know during the week eighteen point nine A
dot for Mari Cooper, so even if he gets some,
he doesn't need a lot to make a difference. Twenty
one percent target chair and he gets the best matchup
against Monterrek Brown, who gave up a one to twenty
one rating in his coverage last year one nineteen rating
in his coverage last week. So good spot for Mari Cooper.
But I'm only give him the seat because I can't

(23:18):
trust to Sean Watson in the rent in the running game.
It's only Jerome Ford's game. Really, Not only did he
keep Deonta Foreman, and Pierre Strong. Off the field, he
took all the past game work, as we kind of
expected before the season, but six of his seven targets
came after in Djoku got hurt and then Djoko is

(23:38):
likely to miss this one. So that's that's something worth
tracking there that I think I I thing might be
in play here again against Jacksonville as they're you know,
supposed to there. You know they're they're they're not the favorites.
Jacksonville is the favorite over the Jackson Jacksonville side. Trevor
Lawrence I have on the bench. It feels like Trevor's

(24:00):
really just spreading the ball around, so it's gonna be
tough for his receiving options as well. But he's going
up against last year's second best pass defense Cleveland spent
most of last year at the top against every position,
so you're gonna kind of get how this is going
to go. For most of the skill players here, I
have C grades on the only the only wide receiver

(24:24):
grade I have is Brian Thomas with a C grade.
He got one percent of the end zon targets and
one percent of the red zone targets, which was one
which but he caught it. He caught it, so they're
just an incredible pass by the way, I don't know
if you saw that pass, the Trevor Lawrence to Brian
Thomas pass. Wow, was that a pass recorded the third

(24:44):
highest speed with the ball at nineteen point eight. He
will get the tougher draw likely and Denzel Ward, who
will only allowed a forty nine QB against last week,
but it was a thirty four yards reception on five attempts.
But Ward stays almost exclusively on the left. Thomas bounces
around so he can avoid him for some of it.

(25:06):
UH C grade there for Etn and Bigsby. I have
him both with C grades. Etn got all the pass
game work, all the red zone work, and the score.
He more than doubled Bigsby's snaps. He had seventeen routes
run to Bigsby's four, But Bigsby just looked better when
run at.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
If you know, if you took you, if you took
us and just asked us to look at Tank, Bigsby
and Travis Etn's play, and you took like the numbers
off the uniforms, you know who was who? Everybody? Anyone
would have said Tank Bigsby looked way better. He looked
fantastic and yep, yes, I'm.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
It shows in the twelve for seventy one stat line.
He more yards per more yards before contact, more yards
after contact.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
The way they're playing them, it makes them both serviceable.
ETN played the first drive, Bigsby the second, ETN the third,
Bigsby the fourth. But ETN finished it and ETN Bigsby.
ETN Bigsby both than Bigsby. They are flipping back and forth.
So both have C grades for me in a matchup.
I think that they can. It's not a great matchup,
but they're both going to get enough work.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
People might ask about watch ten got the goal line, Yeah,
you flip that right.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
He also fumbled at the goal line too.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Carry So Gabe Davis is on the bench highest snap
count of the wide receivers, but only three targets. Christian
Kirk is on the bench as he got out snapped
by both Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas. They both had
higher A dots as well on plays with two or
one wide receiver on the field, so not three wide
receiver sets. Christian Kirk played three snaps. He's not in

(26:43):
on their two wide receiver snaps.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
That's a really big change.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
So I got him on the bench, Evan Ingram with
a B grade. He only played sixty eight percent of
the snaps, but when he was out there, he ran
around on almost every single drop at outside of the touchdowns,
he was the most productive last year. The Browns were
a top ten team against tight ends in the first
half last year, but that changed when Evan Ingram in
Week fourteen went eleven for ninety five and two scores.

(27:10):
So I got a B grade on Ingram.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, I bounced back game coming for him. Kirk is
the one that I'm just I'm shocked, yeh, low utilization
for Christian Kirk and very worried. He had been a
very safe, dependable player. You know you needed six catches
for sixty five eighty yards that Christian Kirk was the guy.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, I did it. Still on name value right now
on Christian Kirk alone, because they Scott the stars are
aligning for bad things.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
It seems like, yeah, that's it's definitely worrisome. Speaking worrisome,
can you start any Green Bay wide receiver with Malik
Willis at the hell? Find out when we come back
to fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. If

(28:09):
you haven't joined a Guillotine league yet, still new leagues forming,
It's free to play with friends. You can get into
the guillotine action at Guillotine leagues dot com, the funnest,
freshest way to play fantasy football. Four matchups beginning with
Colts at Packers. Brian, let's start on the Colts side
of the ball, and then we'll get to the Thorny
or Green Bay part of this. Anthony Richardson, with some

(28:32):
big plays downfield, only completed nine passes, but the entire.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Game, Yeah, like Scott said, three fifty plus yards, two
of those being touchdowns, So he gets an A grade
pretty much when he's healthy and suiting up. And obviously
the rushing upside is always massive, only slightly scratched the
surface last week. Six carries for fifty six yards nearly
ten yards per carry, not too shabby for a rich
He gets an A. Jonathan Taylor also gets an A.

(28:59):
Was on the fiel for ninety five percent of the
snaps in the opener. That's awesome. Taylor was not targeted
in the opener as well. That is not awesome unless
you're playing non PPR leagues, but still a massive bellcout
ninety five percent of the snaps. Easy a for him.
Michael Pittman can give him a c. He led the
Colts and targets and route percentage, but was third in
a dot behind Alec Pearson a don A Mitchell last week.

(29:22):
So Pittman was essentially the possession receiver, which is not ideal.
But he will be the primary target in the red
zone like he was last year. He was the only
Colts pass catcher with double digit red zone targets and
he was seventh overall among all wide receivers in red
zone targets in twenty twenty three. So he gets a see.
But I've got Odden A. Mitchell, Alec Pearce and Josh Downs,
who's returned to full practice might make his return. I

(29:43):
got him all on the bench because we need to
see how this shapes out with those three wide receivers
all healthy. So they're on the bench for me, as
are Kyle and Grants and Moali Cox. Not getting too
far into that. If it was Jewanni Woods charge, we
would be breaking that down in details. Over to the
Green Bay side, we're assuming Malik Willis is going to
be the starter. Jordan Love not officially ruled out, but

(30:03):
highly unlikely he goes. That puts every pass catcher on
the bench for me outside of Jaden Reid. Although Jaden
Reid has popped on the injury report with a calf
and shin injury, still gonna give him a c. They're
gonna get him the ball anyway they can, whether it's
to the air on the ground. So a SEE for
Jayden Reid and a B for Josh Jacobs. Colts yielded
a monster game to Joe Mixon last week, and the
Packers figured to lean on Jacobs heavily with Jordan Love

(30:26):
very very iffy to play in this game, So a
B for Jacobs.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, a couple of Milik will his stats now these starts,
his three NFL starts, so from two years ago, hopefully
he's gotten better. If you spike the ball into the
ground every play, do you know what the passer rating is?

Speaker 3 (30:41):
Fifty eight?

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Thirty nine? Okay, Malik Willis's three career starts as a
quarterback passer rating thirty nine, Jesus forty nine. Just take
on the Vikings. Christian McCaffrey ruled out of this game.
Jordan Mason is an A grade based on how great
he looked last week. Vikings are a good run defense.
They were good last year. They gave up the fourth
viewest fantasy points to running backs. Last week they obliterated

(31:06):
Devin Singletary. But I can't see like any defense containing
the version of Jordan Mason we saw last week, So
keeping the A grade on him. Going over to the
passing game, starting with Deebo Samuel another A grade, particularly
after getting eight carries last week. Wow, that was nice.
Nine targets last week, positive individual matchups coming in the

(31:28):
slot against Byron Murphy Josh mittelis probably so. I still
like Deebo Samuel a lot in this one, particularly if
Brandon Ayuk is not quite got the rust knocked off yet.
He comes into the B grade here. It would probably
be an A if if he hadn't had the long holdout.
Snapcount probably gets closer to normal. He dropped a sure

(31:49):
touchdown on Monday night. Minnesota's got three journeyman quarterbacks cornerbacks
Byron Murphy, Shack Griffin, Stefan Gilmour. Those guys combined for
twenty five year years of play in the league and
thirteen different teams, is there not? Like the cornerbacks, everybody
covets at this stage of their respective careers, and I
think Ayuk's better than all of them. So I've still

(32:10):
got a B grade on Brandon Ayuk.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Those are work in the cornerbacks.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
But Kittle posted seventy eight yards against Minnesota last year
when these teams met. He ran routes on ninety one
percent of the forty nine ers plays last week and
will be heavily involved again. Last year, Kittle quality Titans
almost always fared well against the Vikings. I think that'll
be the case here as well, and with a bunch
of A grades and B grades around. Brock Purty comes

(32:37):
in with a B grade here. Played well against an
elite Jets secondary last week, but did not fill the box. Score.
Should be better in Week two, particularly with Trent Williams
getting another week of practice and conditioning behind him. The
Vikings handled Daniel Jones and the opener, but obviously a
far tougher matchup Brocky brock Purty with a B for
the Vikings. Justin Jefferson every week A grade Niners are

(32:59):
gonna roll extra coverage his way with Jordan Addison out,
but still it's jeff Justin Jefferson, and you don't fool
around with that. Jalen Naylor, it's going to be your starter,
and this is a nice dart throw possibility for you.
I considered him as might take a chance on me.
Receiver O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell's going to retain his past heavy
stylings and Naylor's going to be an every down player

(33:20):
with Addison out and again extra coverage rolling to Justin Jefferson,
So Naylor's going to see single covered throughout the game,
and they might take some chances with deep plays to him.
He's got nice speed and he sprung free for a
touchdown last week. Sam Darnold was your take a chance
on me quarterback. I've got a C grade on him.
Brian our Boy and then Aaron Jones. Niners are always

(33:42):
an awesome run defense. Last year they ranked number two
and rushing yards allowed and number four and fantasy points
to running backs. They just held Breeze Hall to three
point four yards per carry, and Hall's great. Hall did
chip in some receiving help, and Jones remain startable because
his past catching ability is really good. And I think
he's going to pull in more receptions this week week
than he did last week. Last year, the Niners allowed

(34:02):
the fourth most running back receptions and the eighth most
running back receiving yards. I think Aaron Jones is going
to be helper through the air.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
One key thing you forgot to mention about this game. Yeah,
Kevin Harland is on the call. Baby cannot wait.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
So great, So good.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Sam Darnold touchdown calls by Kevin Harland, take me home.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Seattle takes on New England. Obviously New England with a
big upset victory in Week number one. Seattle's offensive line
Scott looked awful, and I'm worried about them against a
better Pats defense than the one they saw last.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
Better Pats defense that just held Joe Burrow to one
hundred and sixty four yards and no scores. It's the
lowest over under of the week at about thirty seven,
and they brought pressure on about twenty eight percent of
the plays, fifth in the league in sacks. I think
it's only four or five. I mean it's been one week, right,
but so yeah, they will be able to pressure a
little bit. I gave Jano Smith a bench grade in

(34:57):
this one. He only had one hundred and seventy one
yards and an easier matchup last week. So for his receivers,
I think Tyler Lockett and Dk Metcalff are going to
find their way to C grades, but it might just
be one hundred and eighty yards and a score and
it's split between the two of them. Jackson Smith and
Jigba got Bert virtually nothing last week with his three
point three a dot and just two targets. Dk Metcalf

(35:22):
was out there all the time, played eighty eight percent
of the snaps. Last year. He had a scoreless sub
forty day in this matchup, but he had one hundred
and thirty four yards and three or sorry, he had
one hundred plus yards and or a score in ten games.
I think he gets back on track here. The only
problem is he's got a tough matchup with Christian Goitnzalez,

(35:43):
who shadowed Jamar Chase last week to the dune of
two catches for fifteen yards. So I can barely get
to a C grade on Metcalf. Tyler Lockett led in targets,
receptions yards last week six for seventy seven yards, but
he only played about half the snaps and didn't see
a red zone target. But I think he'll find his way.
He's he's been injured, but he's been playing with the injury.
In the running game, Kenneth Walker is going to be gone.

(36:06):
Coach Grubb says that offensive coordinator Grub says that Zach
Charbonay is going to see the same work that Walker,
which is going to mean a lot exactly. So I
have a C grade on Walker. After Walker was injured,
Charbone played the last two drives of massing zero yards
on four carries, so that doesn't give us very much.
He was in effective when he was in the game.

(36:28):
He did get a score through the air, and we
do know he's a good pass catcher, so he should
get enough to get a C grade. Over on the
New England side, I have one starting grade and that's
it the pass. The passing game is on the bench.
It's Fromandre Stevenson, but it's only a C grade. Stevenson
had seventy eight percent in New England's running back rushes
and thirteen percent of the targets. He didn't reach that

(36:50):
high of a running back rush share once in twenty
twenty three. He led Week one in miss tackles with ten.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
I know I saw one service credit him with twelve
miss tackles. Okay, okay, believable for Remondre. I think the
next closest runner had five or six. Yeah, to tell
you how good twelve miss tackles is orphaned.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
Depending on give your looking. Gibson didn't have a target.
Steven said had four of the six, but Seattle just
held Bronco runners to sixty eight yards. I think he's
got the volume c but if he breaks one or
he gets a score, it could be a b day.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
I love Romondra and I'm so happy for his success.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
The battering rom Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Oh, I kind of like.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
That Bell cow baby. He looks like a bell coow.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
Jets take on the Titans. Brian Jets side of the ball.
Breese Hall bottled up. As I mentioned a few minutes ago.
Do you like him better in this matchup?

Speaker 2 (37:38):
A little bit better? But another another tough matchup for Breese.
I can give him an a though he did operate
in a Bell cou roll in Week one, took eighty
four percent of the snaps against the Niners, posted a
respectable line of ninety three combo yards with five catches.
And a touchdown, but again another tough matchup against the
Tennessee You shut down the Bears ground game last week,
but Brees saw much better than any Bears running back.

(37:58):
He's a You're starting Breese Hall Garrett Wilson and give
him a be got off to a hot start last week,
but then it became the Allen Lazard show in the
second half. But Wilson still led the Jets with eleven
targets and he's only getting a bee because of game
script concerns. I kind of think the Jets roll the
Titans in this one.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
But also the Titans. You know, they picked up Lugarious
Snead in the offseason.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
That's a big boon.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Gaved he was really good in Week one, and frankly,
the whole secondary looked really good. So I'm kind of
with you on this be great and I worry about
sneed just shadowing Garrett Wilson in this game.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Yeah, they're probably gonna throw lots of double covers at
Wilson too. That's why I liked Allen Lazaris might take
a chance on me. Wide receiver Mike Williams only took
nine snaps in Week one. The Jets are easing him
into action before he gets hurt again, so he's on
the bench, as is Tyler Conklin. Only two targets last week,
and the Titans allowed just four catches forty three yards
per game to tight ends last year in just three

(38:49):
total touchdowns to the position, So Conklin on the bench
was kind of a popular sleeper pick but hasn't come
to fruition yet. And lastly, for the Jets, Aaron Rodgers
gets to see and again that's because I fear this
is going to be a big Breasee Hall game. And
the Titans only allowed the fourth few his passing touchdowns
in twenty twenty three, and only one quarterback has topped
two hundred and eighty yards against them over the last

(39:10):
sixteen games the Titans. That is so not a great
matchup for posing quarterbacks over the Titans side. Not a
lot to like here outside of if you're.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
Gonna start with that, you must you must go directly
to Will Levis Well.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
I thought outside, I want to get Tony Pollard out
of the way. You're take a chance with me running
back and with you there, ty J. Spears, I was
close in PPR to get thrown a Dart, but just
twenty five percent of the snaps in week one. He's
still on the bench as and as is Calvin Ridley
led the Titans with seven targets last week, but only
three were catchable. He was getting wide open, but Will
Levis was not cooperating. Ridley had a seventy one percent

(39:45):
air yard share. How about that. That's insane. But you
have to imagine Ridley will draw a lot of sawbridge
from Sauce gardener. So he's on the bench. So it's
DeAndre Hopkins who only took seventeen snaps in week one
as a partially torn and cl can't trust him, can't
trust Tyler Boyd. He's on the bench, and you cannot
trust will Levis, especially if he's making your coffee. He's

(40:07):
on that.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
I will say Sauce doesn't travel. Sauce and DJ they
play their sides. Yep, you're absolutely right about that. I
believe Sauce gave up zero yards in his coverage in
the opener against the forty nine.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, yep. Absolutely. We've actually got a couple of minutes
to spare. We're going to get into the UH into
the TUA situation next hour. But I do want to
talk about one or two other things from the Thursday
night game. Okay, Number one, Keon Coleman was the most
targeted Buffalo player in Week one. Then we two no catches.

(40:43):
What's your what's your take on Keon Coleman as somebody
that has a Fantasy starter going forward.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
I like him, but I feel like I feel like this,
this Buffalo offense might just be unpredictable as far as
witch wide receiver you're gonna want, and sometimes it's.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Just going to be non well except for one guy.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
Okay, Khalil, come.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
On, if you had to pick one, it's definitely Shakira.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
It is for sure.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
It was never going to be Samuel.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
I see, I never thought it was. He looks totally
out of the loop now, like droppable for Curtis Samuel.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Yeah, I think we were on that this is.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Getting very inconsistent work. Yeah, she cares. You know, you
guys know she cares.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
My guy.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
He looks slippery. I love the way they use him.
I wish it wasn't so much out of the slot.
But nevertheless, let's say you're down. You played against James
Cook and now you're down three touchdowns early what how
does this change how you set your lineup on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
I think it's the same advice we give every year.
You go for the high risk, high reward, but uh,
you know upside players.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Or you can assemble a stack that could be on
the way like Sam Donald and Naylor right there, Donald,
Josh Oliver throwing Josh Oliver a tight end and just
just root along for Sam Donald with me. Baby can
enjoy the ride. Every It's a wild ride that all
I know.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Every answer from you, I'm obsessed. It seems to involve
Sam Darky.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
I'm obsessed.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
I'll admit it.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
I want him to succeed so bad, and I think
he will. I know you will.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
Maybe ultimately they've got a much.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Of a reputation to put on the line either, So
there's that.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Yeah, people are used to being being right.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Oh no, we haven't talked about Kobe Parkinson yet. How
right it was? Oh, that's a lot of right that
looks good. Don't though, say I'm wrong all the time.
That is not correct. I'm not Matt Harrison. I had
to throw some shade in Matt.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Well, you're not here offense. You've got to get in
your shot it's true.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
So they take him at me.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
It is probably how this works a little bit charge, Yeah,
what do you think about the Falcons offense? Well, okay,
so the misuse of Kirk Cousins was ridiculous. How you
put him in the pistol and shotgun every play for
a guy who we know all of his best work
is under center. He's he is one of the best
play action quarterbacks. They took that off the table.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
Ye, no play action pace, no one.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
Not one, not one play action play And do you
see this? The the plays that originate out of the
pistol runs. How predictable, How predictable. So then a lot
of people looking at his throats.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
And he stands and.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
His stance and it was different. He's like a different
guy out there. I'm looking at We watched, we broke down,
every watched every single Kirk Cousins throw er here in Minnesota.
That guy bared no resemblance to the Kirk Cousins we
saw from Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
The reason I bring this up is does this give
you cause for concern for Falcons players? Should people be
looking to sell or do you think it's going to
get fixed?

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Hate? I hate buying low I hate buying the.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
Would you sell selling? Would you chant selling all? You
think it's low. You think Drake Lennon's lost all his
value after one week.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
I don't think you can get much for him right now,
right because everybody knows the Kirk. Everybody saw Kirk look
so feeble. I don't know if you can get much now.
What about Kyle Pitts, that's the real question. Scored a touchdown,
got you the touchdown. So there's a lot less worry
about Kyle Pitts right now.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Ray Ray McLeod leads the Falcons wide receivers and targets
right now.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Zach robs It might end up being a good offensive coordinator,
but it's very possible that Zach Robinson right now, at
this extremely early stage of his career, is over his head.
Then he's doing more bad than good with Kirk Cousin
one week, we'll see, Yeah, we're gonna we'll get a
lot more data points next week and we'll break down
that game a little bit later in the show when
we come up next. Three tough questions you get to

(44:21):
play along. We will hit on the TUA topic when
we come back as well. How much can you trust
the Miami offense. If two is going to miss extended time,
and it seems like he very well may. We'll get
into that and other topics in three tough questions and
we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back Fantasy

(44:50):
Football Weekly. Our number two. As is tradition, we start
with three tough questions.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Tough question number one, what's.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
The appropriate level of concern for the Miami offense in
these games without Tua? Is it none? Is it some?
Or is it a bowel loosening level of existential dread?

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Scott, I'm just gonna go with some. Mike McDaniel, here's
what he's got to work with under whatever qbuh he
starts for, you know, the foreseeable future. One game, ten games,
whatever it is, Tyreek Hill, Waddle, mostart A, Chan, John New,
et cetera, et cetera. Jalen Right should have started with
John Smith. But yeah, I know he's got a lot

(45:31):
of pieces to work with. It'll be good for any quarterback. Uh,
they're gonna get there is. Mike McDaniel's gonna scheme it
to make it work. Uh. There's obviously gonna be a downtick.
Tua led the NFL in passing Last year he led
the NFL in passing Week one, Like, that's a lot
of a lot to make up for. But so it's some.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
It's some, all right, Brian. What's the appropriate level of
concern for the Miami offense in games without Tua?

Speaker 2 (45:54):
None?

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Some or blowed?

Speaker 2 (45:57):
I think it's got to be blowed. I mean, the
vert was still out if Tua is is actually good.
I mean, last year the Dolphins got off to an
incredible start led by Tyreek Kill and two was the quarterback,
of course, where they really fizzled out in the second
half of the year. Tyreek Kill was banged up that
help the weather got colder. Miami doesn't like that, but
I mean before the head injury last you know, on

(46:18):
Thursday night. The other night, Tua was not looking too good.
There Bills are a tough matchup, but uh, you know,
without two, uh, I don't see Skyler Thompson making this
offense run nearly as effectively as it did with Tuas.
It's full on blowed. For me, I don't have much
else to say.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
The correct answer is some. And you know, one of
my favorite rookie analysts is Matt Waldman. Sure football got
I think he does great work. He has been a
big proponent of Skyler Thompson, Yes, and I agree. You know,
we've seen snippets of Skyler Thompson at various times within
the boundaries of backup quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
I think he's pretty good against the Vikings that one.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
He did have a good game against the Vikings two
years ago.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
You know who else did, Daniel Jones.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Thompson's got a big arm, and those deep plays that
have generated all those fantasy points for fantasy owners from
TUA are not going to completely dry up. And Thomson's
not a precision passer. He's gonna make aaron throws, but
mostly those airin throws don't hurt us as much as
the big plays help us. Miami has been a balanced
run game, maybe more so than people realize. They still

(47:22):
and I think they're just gonna add in a bit
more rushing put try to put Skyler Thompson in a
position to have it doesn't have to win games, and
maybe connect on a couple of big passes a game.
Clearly this adds some downside to previously safe feeling guys
like Tyrek Hill and Jalen Waddle, But I don't think
the wheels are gonna come off and I am not
suffering from blowed.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Sure tough.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Question number two.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
What is the appropriate level of concern for the Bengals offense?
Bengals offense, is it done some or a bowel loosening
level of existential drid Brian, you get to start this.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
One borderline blowed, but just some concern for me with
the Bengals offense. Clearly losing at home to the pays
very bad. Burrow did not look good. Jamar Chase obviously
Russy has sat out the whole preseason. Basically t Higgins
was hurt. All those things can be corrected. And back
to Joe Burrow. There was that video footage of him

(48:14):
picking up the water bottle all ye weird awkwardly. It's like, oh,
his wrist is messed up. They're not going to put
him in a He's not starting the season if he
can't actually pick up a water bottle the right way.
That was just a weird way he picked up the
water bottle.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Oh wait, do you guys see the video of him
flexing his wrist all the time?

Speaker 2 (48:30):
You know?

Speaker 1 (48:31):
And and when he was asked about it, Joe Burrow's.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Like well, well, maybe that's the okie dope movie. He's
trying to say, risk.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
What did you say?

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Well, he said, well, that's part of my therapy is
you know, I'm now an habitual wrist flexer. I'm flexing
at home. I flex in the shower.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
I do the same thing. I shattered the right side
of my right hand, and I flex it.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Sometimes you flex your hand because because it's nutsy.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
That's what I had to do to for physical therapy,
and I do do it. So I think there's a
little bit too what Joe Burrow said, maybe just a
little maybe not if.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
You were you done so you have you have an
NFL caliber quality right hand, is what you're saying, not
just kidding. It's some for me. I don't know how
it can be blowed if the Dolphins isn't blowed, so
some for me for the Bengals.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
That's why when Tody Pollard broke his fibula, I'm like,
I know that injury. I can tell you how it
works with this caliber of athlete.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Same caliber. You're a professional caliber, right is what I
what I lean from all of this. All fingers Scott,
what's the appropriate level of concern for the Bengals offense.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
I'm glad you repeated the question because it's been so long.
I'm going to some Dan Orlovsky said it best. He
said their scheme is broken. It depends on two star
wide receivers. As we know U T. Higgins has that
lingering hamstring injury. They take out one, the d can
cover the other, and and they're rushing quicker. The Burrow
has to get the ball out fast and check down.

(49:55):
Taylor's play calling isn't making up for that. And by
the way, and aside to Taylor's play calling mixing, was
I mentioned this in the preseason? They kept running him
into the middle, Yeah, middle of the line, maybe like
we see him in Houston. Maybe maybe it was Zack
Taylor's play line. So there's definitely some even when Higgins
comes back.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
I got some as well. You know the why the
why does the Bengals start slow every years?

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Every year? At the last two seasons, they've you know,
he's they have started slow. Last year. As a reminder,
Joe Burrow the first four weeks of the season was
fantasy quarterback thirty one wow. And then after week four
until he had the season ending uh wrist surgery and break.
I don't know. It was like a week ten or

(50:39):
eleven or something. He was quarterback six, quarterback six. I
had a C. J. Stroud and Lamar Jackson and Patrick
Mahomes and obviously T Higgins is going to come back,
Lamar Chase is going to knock the rust off. But
most here's the most important reason why it's only some
the schedule here after this Turkey game in Kansas City,
which I don't I don't like Washington Carol Lina Tougher

(51:02):
running Baltimore, and then the Giants, three of the next
four might be three of the five easiest.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
Defenses in the league.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Yeah, so I like I think the I think the
turnarounds coming.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Sure. Tough.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Question number three.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
What's the appropriate level of concern for the Chicago offense?

Speaker 2 (51:19):
None?

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Some or a bowel loosening level of existential drive? Scott,
I'm going some.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
By the way, do you like it? I'm answering you
right away, and then I'm giving either the rest yes,
normally You're like, so is it? I'm going to some.
This was a rookies first first game, I know, is
a terrible first half, and the second half years bailed
out by the defense and special teams. The numbers were
really bad. His aggressive throw percentage was eighth worst, sixth
worst pass worst passer rating, second shortest completed air distance

(51:49):
throw only. He's only one. He's one of just two
qbs that have had twenty five plus pass tempts and
less than one hundred yards in their debut, the other
being Desmond Ritter. The run was just non existent for him.
I think more is coming. There was there was no
gunslinger mentality in his game, and he does have that.
He showed that in college and he really depended on
his would be there Keenan Allen with eleven targets. I

(52:11):
think I think it starts to change as he gets
more comfortable. So I'm just going to say some for now.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
All Right, Brian, the appropriate level of concern for the
Chicago offense.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
I've got none. It was a rookie struggling in his debut.
And yes, Kayla Williams is one of the most type
rookies since you know Andrew Luk, that type of player.
But Titans have a very good defense and Tod Todd
Scott touched on the special teams touchdown, and the Bears
also had a pick six both of those plays essentially
took the ball out of Kayleb Williams hands. He didn't

(52:41):
have those drives to try to, you know, score points.
So none for me. Titan's a good defense. I think
the Bears will bounce back pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
I've got some I almost went none on this, and
this was a it was a tricky one. I look
to see if the offensive line was a culprit, but
really they ranked middle of the pack in PFF grades
and ESPN's blocking ratings, so I don't think that was
the issue. I went back and watched all of Caleb
Williams throws. Again. He wasn't awful. He had some bad passes.
He just looked. He looked like a raw rookie to me.

(53:09):
And he had one great pass, a laser thrown on
the run at the sideline to DJ Moore. But he
also had a touchdown dropped by Keenan Allen that would
have helped his box score. A lot too many tip passes.
Maybe that's something he can get better on. But here's
why I'm really I'm most optimistic. The Bears fourth place
schedule is going to kick in after this week when
they face Houston. This is gonna be a tricky matchup

(53:30):
against Houston. We'll talk about it in a minute after
this Houston game. This is probably the toughest game left
on their whole schedule they're gonna have between now and Halloween.
They get Carolina, Washington, Arizona. This is there are some easy,
easy games coming up for the Bears, and I think
they're gonna end up righting the ship. But still some concern.
I think we all thought they would start the start,

(53:52):
you know, things would be better early. But I think
that the stroles in week one. I think they struggle
here in week two, and then after that it probably
gets better. Some correct answer for tough question three, let's
go to uh, you know what, maybe I go right
to that, Matt, Do I have that matchup? I do?
Why not? You know we never shuffled.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
It's a great segue, let me know it.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
Why not?

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Sunday night game Bears Texans called the audible. Yeah, I'm
going to do it. I've got two starting grades on
the Bears. DJ Moore comes out of the C grade.
Roma Dunesay hurt Alan is hurt Uh. Moore is going
to get a lot of attention from both teams in
this one. The Texans allowed the second fewest wide receiver
touchdowns last year, and it is a good secondary spearheaded

(54:32):
by cornerback Darryl Stingley. And yes, the Houston Texans got
stung by Alec Pierce twice on long bombs, but as
a reminder from earlier in the game, they only gave
up nine completions in the whole game, So I still
think there's a good defense. And I can only get
you to a C grade on DJ Moore, who actually
like less with the Dunsay and Alan hurt others, and

(54:55):
we're not going to start Dunesay and Alan both questionable.
Alan didn't practice all week. It's a difficult but Dunes
they might go, probably not, So we're just gonna avoid
that until those guys are healthier. And we know that
Caleb Williams and is an NFL caliber starter, which we're
not necessarily there yet. And speaking of Caleb, you got
to leave him on the bench the two injured receivers,
the tough opponent, and frustratingly only five designed runs for him,

(55:17):
which I did not like very much. You know, Caleb's
a good runner. I wanted to see him get more
looks in the running game. We didn't get him here.
He did not complete a pass longer than thirteen yards
last week. DeAndre Swift comes in with a C grade.
The Bears offensive line looked inconsistent last week. Swift only
ran for three yards per carry. The Texans shut down

(55:38):
Jonathan Taylor last week, holding him to just three yards
per carry. Swift ran twenty routes last week, so we're
hoping he catches a few passes even though he didn't
catch any last week. Maybe he'll be more active in
the passing game. I've got a C grade on him.
Let's go to the Houston side. Bears defense is good.
I had a lot of trouble figuring this one out.
Nico Collins still comes in with an A grade. Normally

(56:00):
I'd worry about shadow coverage from star cornerback Jalen Johnson,
but with Stefan Diggs and Tank Dell on the team,
Johnson can't afford to blanket any one player here, and
Collins had a terrific Week one, leading the Texans and targets, receptions,
and air yards. A grade for Nico Collins. Yes, I've
got a B grade on Digs and Dell. Let's talk
to them through. Diggs mostly ran from the slot in
Week one. That would put him on Bear's cornerback Tyler Gordon,

(56:23):
who's an above average slot corner by no means dominating
or shut down. Digs scored twice last week, but we'll
note that Diggs is a dot. Yeah one point seven yards.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
He did have one pass play that was a designed
negative ten yard a dot, so that didn't help.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Did they throw negative ten yards to him? How do
you do that?

Speaker 3 (56:43):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
I don't either, So I still like Digs enough to
give him a B grade in this one tank. Dell
felt like the odd man out last week, and he
had almost the exact same usage numbers though as Digs
and Collins, so it wasn't really the odd man out.
I expect it'll mostly get cornerback Tyreek Stevenson, which is
the weakest link in the Bear secondary. He was Pro

(57:04):
Football Focuses cornerback eighty nine last year. So still optimistic
about Dell and I'm still giving him a B grade.
So one other receiver to get to Dalton Schultz. Chicago
was a bad tight end defense last year. They allowed
the fourth most tight end receptions, the fifth most tight
end yards and then the opener, Chickakongo scored a touchdown.
So Dalton Schultz, if you're need kind of a dart

(57:25):
throw tight end, he's your guy. C grade there. So
I've given you an A grade, two b's, and a
C grade. So I got to like the c. J.
Stroud as well. He's got He comes in with a
B grade. Now, the Bears dominated Will Levis in Week one.
I'm trying not to overreact to that, but they have
the number one pass rush per ESPN's pass rush win rate.
After a week they ranked fourth by Pro Football Focus

(57:46):
in pass rush, and the Houston offensive line did not
look great. They give up five stacks on Stroud, so
I do have some concern about them losing the line
of scrimmage. I can't get you to an A grade
on CJ. Stroud all, even with all the weapons he's
got around him. But all those weapons so in totalities
still are so good. We're going to keep the B
grade on c. J. Stroud and then that leaves us

(58:08):
just with Joe Mixon. The Bears were a dominating run
defense last year. Although Tony Pollard had some success last week,
still liked him what I saw from him. Five yards
per carry for Tony Pollard against this same team. Mixing
is all about volume. Thirty carries in the opener, Yeah,

(58:28):
and you give me, you give anybody thirty carries. I'm
interested in him. Be great and they k back. Reporters
asked whether or not Joe Mixon could sustain that workload.
Coaches like, yeah, we're gonna keep giving him the ball,
but that's gonna be his deal. He's going to be
our workhorse.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
Pickup events and you might live in there, you might,
you might win. No bakers, I was thinking that Connor
at some point he's going to deal with Connor. Honestly,
the amount he got.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
I kind of hear you on that. When we come
back Bucks taking on the Lions, is there anybody to
bench Ereic? Can we just go like start everybody find
out when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly's like

(59:39):
welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Reminder. Guillotine leagues starting fresh,
you know the format. Every week, the lowest scoring team
gets chopped from the league. Their players go to the
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(01:00:02):
Private leagues are totally free new this year, free private
leagues free. Create a shadow league with your regular league,
Go take all the same people, Go draft a Guillotine league.
Created leagues of every size available to you guillotine leagues
dot Com. All right, let's jump back into the matchups,
beginning with Scott fish Bucks take on the Lions.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Yeah, you're dead right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
It's a start everybody game, right. It's just a matter
of what the letter grades are.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
So I'm not starting Kate.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
On Okay, there's your one random.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
Route on eighty to eight percent of drop backs. He
got one catch. I got him on the bench. But yeah,
Baker Mayfield was my take a chance on me quarterback.
I actually had a B grade on him. Jalen McMillan
was your take a chance on me wide receiver. I
had a C grade on him. Mike Evans and Chris
Godwin I got A and B grades on respectively. Mike
Evans has averaged seven for one to twenty six and

(01:00:52):
a score in the last three Lions games they've They've
all been shootouts. In fact, Four of the last six
games between these two have been shootout. They must love
shooting out with each other. So I have an A
grade on Evans, who's also the the red zone guy,
the guy that scores more Chris Godwin. The Lions are
the worst in the league against wide receivers and worst

(01:01:14):
against the slot. Granted that that was all Cooper Cup
a lot of that was, but it doesn't change that
Godwin was second in snaps first and targets, receptions and
yards and scored last week. He's a focal point in
that offense now that he's back in the slot as well.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
B grade.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
I could have given it him an A over to
the running backs, I gave Bucky Irving and take a
chance on me running back Rashad White, I'm also given
a see. He wasn't super super effective, but he had
sixty two point five percent rush share, a number he
dip below just once last year, so clearly Bucky is
getting some work there. The Lions did hold a far

(01:01:53):
more dynamic Kyron Williams to his worst game as a
starter last week, but Rashad White's getting a seventy thirty
share and it's one hundred percent of the red zone work,
and we already know he's a bass catcher, so C
grade there over to the lion's side. A lot of
starts here too. I have a B grade on Jared Goff.
You could have talked me into an A. But averaged
over three hundred yards and two scores per game in

(01:02:14):
the last two matchups in this as we already talked about.
They were both shot outs anyway, barely cross two hundred
last week, and the running backs did all the work
scoring outside of and whatnot. Outside of one Jamison Williams touchdown.
Jamison could have had a second just saying this is
likely a higher scoring game. Highest over under of the
week might mean an extra score and some more yards

(01:02:34):
from golf. That puts him in the two fifty maybe
two touchdown range. That's a B maybe an A if
things go well. Jameson Williams, he's gonna come in with
questionable with an ankle, but he played on it after
he got hurt. They taped it up. He played on
it last week too. B grade here led the team
in receptions and yards while being targeted nine times, nine

(01:02:57):
second in snap's second highest of rate of first read
targets in the NFL. They he was consistently the primary
read in that offense. Last week, uh second in the
NFL in yards after the catch per reception. So when
he caught the ball, he got thirteen point seven yards
after the catch, which is a ridiculous, really nice. Yeah,
the off season drum beats seemed legit, and he'll see

(01:03:18):
a lot of Jamal Dean, who's been solid, if not
great for years. So just to just to b grade there,
I'm on Ross Saint Brown. I'm going back to the base.
It's it's the bounce back. Top paid stud safety Antoine
Winfields out. The quarterback that would have covered him, Bryce
Hall is out. Yeah. So and last last week they
did hold wide Washington wide receivers down, but they're missing

(01:03:40):
several several options from that second secondary. He's going to
get rookie Tykey Smith in his second career game. Yes,
So a grade on I'm on Ross Saint Brown. A
grade on Sam Laporter, who I also think bounced back somehow.
His four catches for forty five yards was fourth last week.
I saw the yardage out of the tight ends last

(01:04:01):
week was like the worst than twenty plus years or
something like that. If Dean helps lockdown jameson at least
some laporters should get back to normal with a few
extra targets. Over to the running game, A grade on
Gibbs and a B grame on Montgomery. The Bucks allowed
seven catches for one hundred and one yards to backs
last week. That's mostly Gibbs his game, and Gibbs played

(01:04:23):
one more snap than Montgomery. I think Montgomery, I think
he's the A grade because he's going to get more
work early in the pass catching work and they kind
of split three to two of the inside the ten rushes.
David Montgomery gets the B grade because he did have
more touches than Montgomery, and I do think if this
is the kind of game that's the shootout, a lot
of offense, a lot more touches to be had, a

(01:04:45):
lot more opportunities to be had, So Montgomery with a
B grade.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
All right, let's go to the Steelers taking on the Broncos.
Brian and I'm going to start here. Specifically, we didn't
know what Arthur Smith was going to do to mess
up this offense, but now we know Jalen Warren fairly
on the field. In week number one, I'd like to
start with the Steelers running backs, and tell me what
you expect from these two guys, Naji Harris Jalen Warren.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Uh yeah, let's start there. Naji Harris, he was he
was basically a bellcow. In week one, he saw twice
as many snaps as Jalen Warren and ten times as
many carries I mean twenty to two Jalen Warren. Cord
Erol Patterson had twice as many carries as Jalen Warren.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
In fairness to Warren, he came in hurt and they
were gonna use him.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
In Yes, I think that was a little but I
still like Dalen Warren, but not this week. He's on
the bench. Naji Harris gets to see and if you
needed to know, cord Aerol Patterson also on the bench.
Over the wide receivers starting with more bench grades, and
really the only wide receiver were worth talking about, that's
George Pickens. He's going to draw a ton of coverage

(01:05:50):
from Patrick's artan who basically erases opposing number one wide receivers,
especially when the number one wide receiver is the only
viable white out on the team, as Jorge Pickens is
for Pittsburgh. So he was on the bench. We're not
gonna go Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin, Rookie Roman Wilson might
make his debut with our all on the bench. I
will give Pat Fryer muth a C grade. Though Mouth

(01:06:11):
took eighty four percent of his snaps out wide last week.
That's great, most among tight ends. Scott hooked me with
that stat. I appreciate that. And last season the Broncos
allowed the third most catches and the most yards and
touchdowns to tight end. So like Mouth with the C
and Justin fields, was your take a chance on me
quarterback charge? I was going to give him a sea
as well. You got it with that rushing upside always

(01:06:32):
over to the Broncos, starting with their running bang, running
gang game. I got Javonte Williams on the bench. Pittsburgh
held the Falcons backs, primarily Bejon Robinson, to eighty nine
rushing yards in Week one. Williams gained only twenty three
yards on eight carries last week and saw just two targets.
That's why I like Julia McLoughlin more. He might take
a chance on me running back. I think he sees

(01:06:54):
five to six targets in this game. Hopefully, reels them
all in will be PPR viable and should be an
ugly game. And that's why the rest of the Broncos
on the bench. The only one we'll really get into
is Courtland Sutton. The Steelers have a scary secondary and
I can easily foresee Sutton having the same pathetic production
as Drake London had last week against the Steelers, if

(01:07:14):
not worse. Joey Porter Junior is a problem corner up
look for fantasy purposes.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
And by the way, I mean this might be the
best defense in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
The Steelers, Yeah, and this is.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
Gonna be a fantasy nights are unbelieved.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Yah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
TJ. Watt just destroyed Kirk Cousins.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
So I'm just not even gonna mention anyone else for
the Broncos. They're all on the bench too too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Bengals chiefs, We've already talked about Joe Burrow and our
concern for him. I'm want to start with Jamar Chase
potentially a bit rusty still and without T Higgins, Chase
is going to draw shadow coverage from Trent McDuffie, who
frequently shadows, especially when there's not a proven number two
for the opposition. And with all due respect to Andre
Yoshi Vash, he's not a huge threat. And Trent McDuffie

(01:07:56):
is just gonna shadow Jamar Chase. McDuffie gave up twenty
two scoreless yards in his coverage against Baltimore last week.
I've got I can only get you to a B
grade on Jamar Chase, as awesome as he is. So
that really brings us to Joe Burrow. So many negative
factors here, No t Higgins Chase locked up, the water
bottle thing, the water hole, water bottle, the wrist flexing. Yeah,

(01:08:17):
I just I can't. I can't give you a starting
grade on Joe Burrow in this game. Then not enough
other good quality targets on this whole team. Chase Brown's
on the bench, he's the clear second banana, by the way,
do what we say second banana. Why isn't a second cum
quad or second Why is that the fruit of choice?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
I have never heard second banana. I thought you just
made second fiddle.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
Second fiddles common too, But second banana is a thing,
really it is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
Yeah, we've got independent.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
Confirmation is in the second city Chicago, second city of Chicago.
That's not relevant to this. I don't think let's start
with that. Let's go to Zach Moss.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
There's always money in the banana stand.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
That is that is a fact. There's always money in
the banas. Don't set your banana stand on fire. We've
established that Zach Moss is the lead back and the
goal line back. He ran for four point nine yards
per carry last week, average to healthy two point eight
yards after contact. And I don't like the Cincinnati passing matchup,
as I just explained, So I think the Bengals are
going to try to run as much as they possibly

(01:09:14):
can in this one for as long as the game
script allows. When these teams matched up in Week seventeen
of last year, Joe Mixon ran the ball twenty one
times for the Bengals. That's about what I see coming
from Moss with a possible touchdown here in this game.
B grade on Zach Moss. Let's go over to the
chief side. Travis Kelcey and Isaiah Pacheco get a grades.

(01:09:37):
Just a couple of quick notes. No, Gray was a
factor last week, but he only ran ten routes. That's
probably not going to be a repeat there. And for Pacheco,
he follows Romandre Stevenson, who tore through the Bengals defense
last week, tallying twelve avoided tackles, so I like Isaiah
Pacheco in this game, A grade for him. Rashie Rice
heavily involved in the Chiefs offense, dominating all the other

(01:09:57):
wideouts with nine targets in week number one. He runs
half his plays from the slot, which puts him up
against cornerback Mike Hilton. Hilton's was good last year, didn't
give up a single touchdown in his coverage, So just
a B grade for she Rice for me in this game.
Hollywood Brown's season might be over, and that means Xavier

(01:10:18):
Worthy is going to turn into probably an every week's starter.
Here in cementsa starting grade for me in this game.
He had the electrifying debut in Week one, but his
production came on very few targets, so this turns into
a high risk, high reward situation for those that start
Xavier Worthy. He had just three targets thirteen percent of Mahomes'
throws only thirteen percent of Mahomes' throws. He also scored

(01:10:41):
on that run in week one, which is not very replicatable.
Hopefully the utilization goes up in his second start. Here,
I've got a B grade on Xavier Worthy and then, lastly,
last guy to talk about, Patrick Mahomes. Can't really get
a read on the twenty twenty fourth Cincinnati secondary based
on the limited play of Jacoby Brissett last week, but
they were a competence secondary last year and no opposing

(01:11:03):
quarterback top two touchdowns against Cincinnati all season, including when
these teams met in Week seventeen, and Patrick Mahomes just
had two hundred and forty five yards and one score,
So I've only got the B grade Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
Top banana and second banana originating from Burlesque Theater, a
very popular comedy skit where the leading com comedian was
given up banana by the second comedian after delivering a
funny punchline.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
Now we know the answer, thank you. I asked, why
do we do the second banana?

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
You answer, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
Gonna assume you didn't google it, that you just knew
that up.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
Just do that when we come back.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
The Fantasy Football Weekly time machine kicks in layers you
want to pick up before everybody else picks them up.
Next week, final segment of Fantasy Football Weekly. Thank you

(01:12:11):
for listening. We appreciate that you can get all my
player rankings available at fantasylife dot com, along with frankly
people who are better at it than I am. Lots
of tools and data available at fantasylife dot com. This
is a segment that we like to start with our
Fantasy Football weekly time machine. We call it three mature Speculation,
as we give you players you want to pick up

(01:12:32):
now that everybody's going to try to pick up next week,
but they're already on your team. Let's start with Scott.

Speaker 3 (01:12:38):
I'm gonna go with Tyler Johnson, who some of you
may have picked up this week, but he's still only
twenty six percent rostered according to Jordan Rodrieg and many
Beat reporters over there. For the Rams, he is the
backup to Puka Nikoua. DeMarcus Robinson's actually just a starter.
He's actually right stay starter. Yeah, Tyler Johnson is moving
into the Nikoua role.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:12:58):
He was third in yards after the catch per exception
at just over thirteen yards this last week's five catches
on seven targets for seventy nine yards. If he does
take that role for the next four or five weeks.
They can't keep feeding Cooper cup twenty plus targets a game.
He's gonna get his, and especially in a game like this,
this could be a shootout, he might be worth the

(01:13:18):
dart throw.

Speaker 1 (01:13:19):
All right, Brian, your premature speculation.

Speaker 2 (01:13:21):
Player, I'm looking a little further ahead with mine. But
my player would not have qualified for this segment. Last week,
but after taking zero snaps in his debut, he was
mass dropped. And I'm talking about rookie running back Blake
Korum for the Rams, did not see the field. People
are expecting him to do the backup st you'll eat
into Kien Williams workload. That did not happen in the

(01:13:42):
first week, and people have gotten impatient already, and he's
been mass dropped. His ownership percentage is under fifty percent,
so we qualifies. And hey, Ronnie Rivers was the backup.
But if something were to happen to Kien Williams, I
don't think it's gonna be Ronnie Rivers Who's gonna be
the starting running back. It's going to be Blake corum
So an intriguing stash for me. People giving up on already.
I think that's a mistake. So go grab.

Speaker 1 (01:14:02):
Him, David and Joku can miss a month with his
bad ankle. Jordan Aikins the only healthy tight tight end
on the entire Browns roster right now. They may have
to elevate a practice squad player for Sunday. Last week,
Aikins just walked right into in Djoku's role. He played
forty two snaps. He was targeted four times with three catches,

(01:14:25):
and Kevin Stefanski loves to throw to his tight ends.
Last year, Cleveland threw the third most tight end passes.
Stefanski ain't changing. Jordan Akan's gonna get a bunch of
action here. And by the way, he's got history with
Deshaun Watson from their Houston days together.

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (01:14:40):
How about that you've got problems a tight end, and
who doesn't Jordan Akins? That might be a sneaky stash.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
We always welcome a new tight end to the wasteland. Yes,
we all are welcome in the wasteland.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
Speaking to the wasteland, Let's go to Arizona, right, going
to the Cardinals in a game that feels like it'll
probably be pretty lopsided.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
Ye, I have a decent amount of starting grades here.
I got a B grade on Matthew Stafford. The Cardinals
were dead last in defensive DVOA last week. It's one
of the highest over unders of the week. He was
one of only two quarterbacks to pass for three hundred
plus yards and the Cardinals just gave up two hundred
and thirty two yards and two scores. Another couple on
the ground to Josh Allen. I don't think Stafford's going
to get those ground ones. But four touchdowns last game

(01:15:23):
against the Cardinals as well for Matthew Stafford in his
receiving game. Yeah, so Cooper cups just obviously. Can I
move on from that again? Yea, absolutely all. Right over
to DeMarcus Robinson, who I'm giving a C grade two.
He's starter, ran the second most draw routes. He's constantly
on the field, as is Tyler Johnson going to be

(01:15:44):
because they run a ton of eleven personnel. He's the
safer C grade. I have a bench grade on Tyler Johnson,
but I could see a dart throw. Do we have
a D grade dart throw there? Oh? But okay, he'll
get the majority of his work against Sean Murphy bonteen,
who's decent, tough matchup the last two years, but Tyler
Johnson knows him well from practicing against in Tampa Bay.

(01:16:07):
So and I'm gonna move on Kobe Parkinson. Tight end,
Brian's Kobe Parkinson. Can I just say it's Brian's Kobe Parkinson.
Guy finished his tight end seven but he had forty
seven yards, which was third among tight ends last week.
In the last two yards two years, he has eleven

(01:16:27):
twenty plus yard receptions, which is Yeah, who would have
guessed athlete?

Speaker 2 (01:16:31):
Apparently?

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
Yeah. Yeah, the Cards took away the tight end last week,
but that's because they bracketed Kencaid, who's a crazy high
rate of double teams. They can't do that against Parkinson here,
and Parkinson ran the most routes among tight ends last week.
So c grade on Parkinson. You might be able to
talk me into more. Kirn Williams, he did it all
for them last week, but only two point eight yards

(01:16:52):
per carry and no explosive plays. Might be a product
of the Lions defense. I don't know, but he had
twenty six explosive plays last year, so it's quite a change.
He had twenty one of the twenty three touches for
the Rams, Blake Korm didn't see an offensive snap. James
Cook went for over one hundred yards last weekend, basically
the same volume. So Karen Williams, I'm giving you a

(01:17:14):
B grade. We'll see if you can be more effective
this week. Over to the Cardinals side, Kyler Murray B
grade five for fifty seven on the ground and that's
a lot of why he's getting this, and also they're
likely to be behind, so he's going to have to
throw a little bit more. Said it wasn't his job
to get Harrison the ball. Buffalo made a concerted effort
to take Harrison away, leaving the targets to be spread around.

(01:17:35):
He has three hundred plus yards and or multiple scores
and three the last four in this matchup, it's routinely
a shootout. So I'm given B grade for Kyler Murray.
His receivers. Michael Wilson was my take a chance on
me player who I think will be in that Jameson
Williams role. From last week against the Rams, Greg Dortch
twenty six percent target share moves around a ton. He

(01:17:55):
nine for eighty and three for twenty seven and one
in the last two games versus the Rams, apparently Greg
George is just good against the Rams. That could be.
So I got a C grade there as he was
the primary slot guy last week and did well there.
C grade on Marvin Harrison. I'm not giving up as
the Buffalo on him just yet, as Buffalo took him away.

(01:18:16):
He may get Tredeavious White, but Tredavious White just allowed
two for seventy in a score. So yeah, maybe maybe
there's something. It might be.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Okay, I don't think he's the same Tredavious White he was.

Speaker 3 (01:18:25):
Yeah four years Yeah, could be. Trey mcbide is getting
a B grade. Led the team in targets with a
twenty nine percent target share after being targeted nine times.
Yardage wasn't there, but the no scores, but snap percentage, drop, percentage,
target share, every single other thing was there. It'll come.
It'll come with the rest of the metrics. Eventually, the

(01:18:46):
stats will come. B grade on James Connor, who saw
eighty four percent of the running back rushes and twelve
point nine percent target share. He got everything and the
Rams just gave up one hundred and eighty seven total
yards to Lions runners. I got a B grade. Hair
to talked me into an A.

Speaker 1 (01:19:01):
But we'll see Marvin Harrison's top speed top recorded sixteen
something sixteen miles an hour. Yea, that is not good.

Speaker 3 (01:19:09):
Yeah, in college he was hidden in the twenties. So
I'm also still Brian.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
Let's go to the Monday night game, Falcons at Eagles.
This is a This is a game which the Falcons
need to obviously improve everything that we saw from last week.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
Yeah, we won't start with Kirk Cousins. I'm still a
little bitter he is responsible for my chopping in a
Guyietina leagu last week. We're gonna start with be Jon
Robinson and give him an a ninety percent of the
snaps in week one. I don't think Arthur Smith gave
him ninety snaps right last season. He has not missed
at all in Atlanta. Not the best matchup. But you
gotta love Bijon here and everywhere now that Arthur Smith

(01:19:42):
has gone. Bijon also took eight snaps out wide last week,
like playing wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
That's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:19:48):
Saw five targets in that game. He's gonna be way
more involved this year. Hopefully that continues on Monday Night
and it should. He gets the A. I'm gonna give
a seed to Drake London and Darnell Mooney. Formidable corner
duo in Darius Slay and Quinnon Mitchell for the Eagles.
The Falcons should be chasing points in this game. One
would think it's sub to sific guy you drafted in

(01:20:09):
the second round, like Drake London, so he gets the
sea and Darnell Mooney the only Falcons pass catcher with
an a dot north of ten yards in week one.
I'm surprised Kirk Cosins actually threw it more than ten
yards in Week one if you watch that game.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
But Kirk cousins longest completion last week was twenty seven
yards something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:24):
Yeah, it was bad. Well, just we're gonna get to it.
Kirk Cousins. He's on the bench. We need to see
him do something before we can trust him. But I'm
not gonna gloss over Kyle Pitts. Don't worry, he still
gets to see. This is the only time I've given
just as I've given CCC. He's really only one of
these guys. Is probably gonna have a good game between Pitts,
London and Mooney. But you gotta start Kyle Pitts unless
you also roster Colby Parkinson. Then I would start Parkinson.

(01:20:47):
But Pitt's got on the board in week one. Got
that out of the way. He gets to see here
in a likely shootout or where the Falcons will be
chasing points over to the Eagles side. A for Sakuon Barkley,
A for Jalen Hurts. It was gonna be an easy
A for aj Brown, but he popped on the injury
report on Friday with a hamstring injury, and that's not

(01:21:07):
good when that happens late. So monitor that I'm gonna
get downgrade him the problem. Oh that's right, not till monday. Yeah,
not till Monday. So Johan Dotson out there, go grab him.

Speaker 1 (01:21:17):
Yeah, pick up Dotson right now.

Speaker 2 (01:21:18):
Ray Ray McCloud might be available for the Falcons. He
saw six targets he led to the Falcons wide receivers
and targets in week one.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
Be sure to put aj Brown into your flex shot
so you have every available opportunity to find a replacement.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
I had a B on Devonte Smith, but if I'm
giving I'm moving that. I'm flipping those grades now with
this hamsteng injury. You're gonna start Smith either way. And
a B for Dallas Goddard. The Falcons are one of
five teams to allow at least one hundred catches to
tight ends last season, and they surrendered six catches to
Pittsburgh tight ends in Week one and uh, we'll take
that all day long and the tight end waste.

Speaker 1 (01:21:52):
I was really happy to see Dallas Goddard with so much,
so much activity in this game because you know, it
was so spotty last year. Yeah, you know, maybe this
Kellen Moore offense is going to feature him more like
he was prior to last season when it was really inconsistent.
All right, let's talk Giants and Commanders. Oh boy, okay,
you know I punted this one to the final matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:22:15):
You wanted to end with the bang. You let the
people want this.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
One of my favorite sleepers of the entire week is
coming in this matchup though. Oh but let's start with
a non sleeper and that's some leak neighbors. I think
the breakout game is coming from elak neighbors right here. Perfect,
So it's you know, in week one he led all
Giants receivers in snaps and routes run, so you know,
establish himself right away incredibly positive matchup against Washington, which

(01:22:41):
got obliterated by Baker Mayfield last week and was the
league's worst pass defense last year. In Week one, the
Commander's three starting cornerbacks had Pro Football Focus ranks of
cornerback fifty nine, quarterback ninety seven, and dead last at
cornerback one hundred and two, and a manual Forbes. Looks
like he's going to be out. So this is yet

(01:23:03):
another loss for an already thin group of cornerbacks. So
I've got to be great on eliite neighbors. I think
that comes together here and then my super sleeper out
of this game, Wan Dale Robinson. I like him here.
The Commanders allowed the six most wide receiver receptions last year,
and last week the Commanders allowed the fourth most wide
receiver receptions fifteen in one game one. Dale Robinson was

(01:23:25):
targeted twelve times last week, twelve targets. He'll be covered
by Commander's rookie slot cornerback Tyke Smith. No way we
meant to him else elsewhere. I think this might be
I might have Tikee Smith confused with somebody else. I'm
not sure he was. He allowed all four of his
targets to be caught in his coverage.

Speaker 3 (01:23:44):
Way, I got Mike Senis still.

Speaker 1 (01:23:46):
Oh, that's it, it is. That's exactly what it is.
It is it's Mike Stannis still or whatever. That's exactly right.
And he also allowed four targets in his coverage to
be four targets four receptions. Devin Singletary stemied by Minnesota
and the opener, and the Commander's run defense actually pretty
good last week. Finished his Pro Football Focuses number four
ranked run defense, the ranked fifth in ESPN's run stuff

(01:24:09):
win rate. Washington give up, did give up a thirty
one yard run to Bucky Irving, but otherwise held the
Bucks to two point seven yards per carry. The good
news for Singletary, no other runner on the Giants got
more than two carries, and the Commander's pass defense so
bad that I think Giants could be near the goal
line a few times and Singletary would be your goal
line back. So let's hope for a touchdown for him.

(01:24:31):
In a C grade for Devin Singletary, we will not grade.
We will not dignify Daniel Jones with a grade.

Speaker 2 (01:24:37):
I'm starting him in a yetine league. No, well, I
mean so, cousins, Daniel Jones Malik Willis or Bryce Young.
It's got to be Daniel Jones right.

Speaker 3 (01:24:47):
Charge Mike Sandristill's QB rating against last week one thirty
one point three.

Speaker 1 (01:24:52):
Wow, there we go, Wandale Robinson. I'm telling you there's
there's something. There's something to that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:57):
Angry Jones has got to be got to get it.
Take on Neighbors is going to break out. You like Robinson,
It's an awful defense. He can run, he'll he'll fall down,
He'll fall down after fifty yards.

Speaker 1 (01:25:09):
But uh, Jones, And I'll say this, take yeah, maybe,
so you're talking me into it, into a C grade.
And I will say this, Even off the ACL his
mobility actually looked pretty good. But he's not going to
get the drawn up design runs that he used to
and that's the problem at all. I'll be scrambling stuff
for Daniel Jones. Let's go to Washington side of this
ball this game. Let's start with Jaden Daniels. So last week,

(01:25:32):
depending your scoring system, roughly QB three without throwing a
touchdown pass. Yeah yeah, thanks to fifteen designed runs. I
worry about his passing in this game because of one element.
The Giants pass rush should be awesome. You've got Dexter
Lawrence and Brian Burns, cave on Thibodeau and the Commander's
offensive line was just garbage last year. They didn't seem

(01:25:54):
much better last Sunday. They ranked twenty fourth and pass
block win rate. So I've got some trepidation about Daniels
as a passer. I think he's gonna have to make
some fast decisions with the ball in his hand.

Speaker 3 (01:26:04):
Giants had the third highest pressure rate last week.

Speaker 1 (01:26:06):
Yep, and they were good. So last week it was
all short dump off stuff from Daniels that doesn't add
up to a lot of fantasy points. And he's got
the big arm, but they didn't use it. I don't
think it's gonna be unfurled here either.

Speaker 2 (01:26:18):
Yeah, he missed McLaurin wide open a couple of times
where he's just he's tucking the ball and running yep,
too quick. Now not do that.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
We'll take the designed runs. Yeah, that leaves him as
a B grade here, but I don't think he's gonna
chip in much through the air. And so I think
it's gonna be a lot of repeat from last year
for our last week from Jaden Daniels. So let's talk
Terry McLaurin worried about the dump off passes, the short stuff,
the deep accuracy. Fortunately, the Giants' cornerbacks are awful. They

(01:26:45):
got murdered by the Vikings. They combined to allow eight
of ten passes to be completed on them, and Sam
Darnold dissected this secondary. So I'm still giving Terry McLaurin
a B grade just on I think volume in this game,
and there's not a lot of other good pass catching
options for this one. Let's talk Brian Robinson. I thought
he just looked fair in this new Kiff Cliff Kingsbury offense.

(01:27:09):
Not great. He got a goal line run to salvage
and otherwise mundane box score. Last week, his quarterback siphoned
off the fifteen carries I mentioned before, four more than Robinson,
and the Giants got hit hard by Aaron Jones. In
Week one, Robinson could find an easier sledding against a
bad run defense, so I still got a startable grade
of SEA on him. Loved Austin Eckler talk to you

(01:27:30):
a lot about in the offseason. I thought he'd be
somebody's gonna chip in enough PPR help to be startable
for most of you. He's the clear passing down runner
for Washington, well utilized in the first game, running seventeen
routes and going four for four on his targets.

Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
Eight of those worldwide. Like, yeah, how about that?

Speaker 1 (01:27:47):
I love famous, super cool. Last week, Aaron Jones caught
both of his targets against the Giants. Last year, Giants
allowed the fewest running back receptions for the fourth fewest yards.
Though we don't know if that's going to hold up
this year, but I'll know that. And then zach Ertz.
We had talked about him being a sneaky starter going
into this season. Ben Sennett. Ben Sennett got one play,

(01:28:09):
that's it. It was all zach Ertz. He got nearly
all the work at the tight end position. And for
what it's worth, last year in these two matchups, Logan
Thomas top fifty yards in both meetings. So I think
you can still start zach Ertz if you need to.
He clocks in with a C grade. All right, let's uh.
I want to talk about a couple other items from
around the league. As we got just a well, we

(01:28:31):
got thirty s I got about I only have about
thirty seconds, so rap fire ago necessarily dig into this.
Are there any are there is there? Could you flat
out drop every Panther excepting Deontay Johnson? Yes, drop, I
think might be interesting down the line too, Xavier yet Yeah,
but with Brooks coming back in four weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:28:52):
But with Brooks they're going to be so bad. What
is the point of risking reinjured? Like, don't play him,
but they're not gonna bell Cowum late in the season. Yeah,
drop James.

Speaker 1 (01:29:02):
Would you drop Brooks out right? Jonathan Brooks them?

Speaker 3 (01:29:05):
No, I wonder if you could know.

Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
I would trade him close to when he comes back.

Speaker 3 (01:29:09):
I'm holding the trade him.

Speaker 2 (01:29:11):
Hold on.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
That's probably the right angle, you know. I know everybody
needed some extra Panthers content. As we punted here at
the in the final moments.

Speaker 2 (01:29:18):
I flew out of Charlotte to get away from the Panthers.

Speaker 1 (01:29:20):
Now look all you got is Panthers. Thank you for listening.
Fantasy Football Weekly Best of Lucky Week two. Back for
more next week of course as well, talk to you then, everybody.
Fantasy Football Weekly is a production of iHeart Radio. For
more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

(01:29:41):
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